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IDEALS 


THE NEGRO AMERICAN 
SERIES 


And 

ADVENTURES 



EMMA E. AKIN 
Supervisor of 
Elementary Grades 
Drumright, Oklahoma 

Photographs by 

THAT MAN STONE COMPANY 


HARLOW PUBLISHING 
CORPORATION 


OKLAHOMA CITT 
1938 








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Copyright 1938 
by 

Harlow Publishing Corporation 






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120998 


This book is dedicated 
to America’s Negro Boys and Girls 






ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 


We want to express our sincere appreciation to all who 
helped and encouraged us in making this book: 

We feel especially grateful to Mrs. G. P. Johnson, who 
has labored so patiently and so graciously to make this book 
a success; to Mr. Joe S. Johnson, Mrs. Beulah Abram, and 
other teachers of Dunbar School; to the parents and chil¬ 
dren for their loyalty and enthusiasm; to the Board of 
Education, and Mr. Frank D. Hess, superintendent of the 
Drumright Public Schools. 

We acknowledge with deep gratitude encouragement, 
information, and pictures contributed by: Dr. John Hope 
of Atlanta University; Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune, Dr. 
James A. Bond, and other members of the faculty at 
Bethune-Cookman College: Shaw University, North Caro¬ 
lina; The North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company; 
Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee; Mr. Robert 
Winn, Boston, Massachusetts; Mr. Charles R. Drew, As¬ 
sistant in Surgery at Howard University; Dean Numa P. 
G. Adams, Howard University; Mr. L. A. Turley, Oklahoma 
School of Medicine, Oklahoma University; Nellie Gorgas, 
Assistant to the Dean, University of Chicago; Mr. J. E. 
Spingarn, President of the National Association for the 
Advancement of Colored People; and all others who as¬ 
sisted in any way. 


The Author 


WHY THIS BOOK WAS MADE 


Boys and girls, this book was written to 
help you learn more about the Negroes of 
America. In it you will read of Negroes who 
have been successful in many kinds of work. 

You will read of boys and girls, like 
yourselves, who want to grow into success¬ 
ful, useful, happy men and women. 

These boys and girls have reasons for 
being proud of their race. They know how 
important it is to be friendly and helpful to¬ 
ward all races. They are loyal citizens of our 
great country. 


Stories in This Book 


The Earth....... 1 

New Friends ..... 2 

Opal Bell........ 4 

Leslie Adams.. 13 

Dr. John Hope ....... 18 

The Spingarn Medal__ 29 

Talbert Adams .. 38 

Robert Gordon .. 41 

Charles C. Spaulding .. 48 

Alphonso Mitchell . 58 

Daniel Hale Williams. 64 

George Earl Wallace .. 74 

Benjamin Banneker .. 77 

Lois Simmons. 86 

Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune... 91 

Crispus Attucks... 104 

Beauty . 117 



















Henry 0. Tanner ....—.-. 121 

Rain at Night...-__ 134 

Who Likes Geography.... 144 

A New Kind of Geography.. 155 

How Stories Are Made .. 166 

Talbert’s Dream .. 171 

Preparing for a Journey. 179 

Telling about the Journey. 185 

Benoni .. 206 

Benoni’s Family ....... 217 

A Joke on Mr. Elephant ... 224 

The End of the Journey .... 234 














IDEALS AND ADVENTURES 







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The Earth 


God’s footstool is a giant thing 

That sheathes a smold’ring fire; 

It soars in space on unseen wing 
And moves at His desire. 

God’s footstool’s an enormous place 
With mysteries inside; 

But on its rugged, curving face 
His creatures all abide. 

God’s footstool is a mammoth stage 
On which His creatures move 

In scenes of sorrow, joy, or rage 
That hurt the heart, or soothe. 


(1) 


New Friends 

Do you like to 
find new friends? 

When a stranger 
comes to your school, 
you like to be intro¬ 
duced. You want to 
know the stranger’s name. Then you want 
to know what kind of person your new friend 
is. You like to learn many things about your 
friends. 

In this book you will find some new 
friends. You may find some old friends, too. 
We shall introduce the people who helped 
make this book. If they are strangers, you 
will be glad to meet them. If they are old 
friends, it will be fun to be introduced to 

them as if they were strangers. 

(?) 







Let us pretend we are having a party. 
Shall we call it a “Book Party”? 

If you like, you may sit on your chair 
while we go to the party. Are you ready? 

Put your two feet on the floor; let your 
hands rest in your lap; close your eyes and 
try to hear the sound of the motor as we ride 
to Bookland for the party. 

Oh, here we are! Open your eyes. The 
book guests will walk out, one by one, and 
meet you. Do you know how to be polite 
when you are introduced? We hope you will 
be very polite to these guests. Some of the 
younger people have not been to a Book 
Party before. Some of the older guests have 
been to many Book Parties. They know just 
how to act. You will want to show your very 
best manners. 


( 3 ) 



Opal Bell 

This is Opal Bell. 
You are going to like 
her, I am sure. See 
how clean and neat 
she looks! 

Opal lives with 
her grandmother and 
grandfather. Her own 
mother and father are 
in Texas. Opal likes to 
stay with her grand¬ 
father and grandmother. They are good to 
her and she loves them dearly. 

On a warm summer day, Opal often 
walks to the Post Office. Her mother does not 
forget her little girl while she is away. She 
sends a letter or a package through the mail 


( 4 ) 


every few days. That is why Opal likes to go 
to the Post Office. 

What do you think Opal enjoys more 
than anything else in the world? She likes 
to go to church! She likes the music at 
church. Most of all, she likes to listen when 
the minister talks. 

When Opal becomes a woman, she wants 
to be a music teacher. She wants to teach 
boys and girls to play the piano. Opal Bell 
is a good girl. She is clean. She is kind and 
polite. She is always ready to help her grand¬ 
mother with the dishes and other housework. 
She has a very pleasant smile for her friends. 
Don’t you want to know her better? 

One day, Mr. Johnson, the principal at 

Opal’s school, said, “It is too bad that you 

were born a hundred years too late to hear 

one of the interesting women preachers of 
( 6 ) 



our race. You would have enjoyed listening- 
to her.” 

“What was her name?” asked Opal. 

“She was called Sojourner Truth,” re¬ 
plied Mr. Johnson. 

“What an odd name!” exclaimed Opal. 

“Yes, it is unusual,” answered Mr. John¬ 
son. “It seems that her mother called her 
Isabella. Her parents were slaves. When she 
was little, her good mother did not have much 
time to spend with her except at night when 








they went to the cellar-room in which all the 
Negroes slept. 

“Isabella’s mother loved her, and 
wanted her to be a good girl. She taught her 
child to repeat the Lord’s prayer. Every 
night, no matter how tired the mother was, 
she listened to Isabella as she repeated this 
beautiful prayer in the cold, wet cellar where 
they slept. 

“When Isabella became a woman, she 
had children of her own. The state in which 
she lived had passed a law against slavery 
and so her family was free. But one of her 
children was stolen and sold into slavery in 
another state. 

“Isabella left her home and went out to 
try to find her child. She wandered from 
place to place for many months. You can 
imagine how hungry and lonely Isabella 

( 7 ) 


must have been at times. 

“One night a white Quaker 
woman took her into her home 
and gave Isabella food and a 
place to sleep. The next day the 
woman helped her go to New 
York. There she joined a 
church and studied to make 
herself a better woman. 

“But she could not, stay in 
New York! She must go out 
into the world and try to help her people. 
Many of them were held as slaves in differ¬ 
ent states. She could not find her own child, 
and so she thought the next best thing would 
be to help free all her people. 

“Isabella could not read or write because 
she had never gone to school. She said to her¬ 
self, T must work for the freedom of my peo- 
(8) 




pie! What can I do? I can tell my story to 
other mothers who love their children. It will 
touch their hearts. I can sing of God and His 
love for all mankind. I will go out into the 
world talking and singing. The people must 
listen to me and help my people!’ 

“Then she tied everything she owned 
into a bundle. It was a very small bundle, for 
Isabella had little of this world’s goods. With 
her tiny bundle in her arms and a sad, but 
determined look on her 
face, she said to her friends, 

T am no longer Isabella; I 
am Sojourner, because from 
this time forth I am to trav¬ 
el up and down the land 
showing the people their 
sins.’ 

“And from that day, 

(9) 



she did travel all over the country, preaching 
and singing. She made many friends for her¬ 
self and for her people. 

“Finally she decided that one name was 
not enough. Other people had two names. 
She said to her friends, ‘I told the Lord that 
I needed another name. He gave me Truth, 
because I was to declare the truth to all the 
people.’ ” 

“Did Sojourner Truth ever find her 
child?” asked Opal. 

“No, she did not find the child,” said Mr. 
Johnson. “She spent the rest of her life work¬ 
ing for the freedom of her people. She had 
a wonderful gift which she used to soften 
hard hearts. All who heard her were sur¬ 
prised and helped by her voice and by the 
truths she declared. 

“You would have enjoyed Sojourner 

( 10 ) 


Truth’s sermons,” continued Mr. Johnson. 
“And you would have wondered at her cour¬ 
age. She did not appear to be a strong 
woman, yet she worked night and day help¬ 
ing Negroes escape through the Under¬ 
ground Railroad.” 

“What!” exclaimed Opal. “Did she work 
on a train?” 

“Oh, no!” smiled Mr. Johnson. “The Un¬ 
derground Railroad was not a real railroad. 
It did not have anything to do with trains. 
It was a system used by a group of people 
who did not believe that slavery was right. 
These people planned a way to help the Ne¬ 
groes escape into Canada. They worked to¬ 
gether so secretly that no one else knew who 
they were nor by what route the Negroes 
traveled.” 

“How did they travel?” asked Opal Bell. 

( 11 ) 


“When a slave ran away, a member of 
the Underground Railroad gave him secret 
instructions about which way to go and where 
to meet another member who would give him 
more information. He learned at which 
houses along the way he could find friends 
and food. He was told where he could find 
a place to sleep and rest during the day so 
that he could travel at night. Often he was 
warned by members of the system that 
strangers were near. Many times he was hid¬ 
den in straw or hay, or even among the vege¬ 
tables on their way to market.” 

“Working on the Underground Rail¬ 
road must have been dangerous,” said Opal. 

Mr. Johnson sighed, “Only brave peo¬ 
ple could belong to the Underground Rail¬ 
road. Sojourner Truth was one of the brav¬ 
est and most helpful of them all!” 

(12) 



Leslie Adams 

This is Leslie 
Adams. He is another 
g-uest at the Book 
Party. He has never 
gone to a Book Party 
before, but he looks as 
if he knows how to 
act. Leslie wants you 
to be friendly and to 
enjoy the party. 

Leslie has no 
mother. He lives with 
his aunt. He helps take care of the smaller 
children while his aunt is working. 

Like most boys, Leslie likes to play in 
water. He likes to swim if the water is not 
too deep. He thinks it is great fun to go with 


( 13 ) 



h i s Sunday School 
class on a picnic near 
the river. He enjoys 
these picnics most 
when the days are hot 
and the tall trees 
along the banks of the 
river make a cool 
shadow on the water. 

You could never 
guess what Leslie 
wants to do when he becomes a man. He 
wants to be a teacher! 

To be sure, he must study carefully 
every day if he is to become a good teacher, 
and of course he' wants to be a good teacher. 
He will finish school at Dunbar. Then he will 
go to college. 

“But where shall I go to college?” he 

( 14 ) 




often asks himself. “We have fine colleges 
in Oklahoma and Texas. Howard University, 
at Washington, D. C., is one of our best 
schools. I should like to go there some day. 
Fisk University in Tennessee is a fine school, 
too. The Jubilee Singers came from Fisk. 
There are many great colleges in the South; 
such as, Shaw, in North Carolina; Dillard at 
New Orleans; and Tuskegee in Alabama. I 
can’t decide which will be best for me.’’ 

One thing Leslie wants to teach boys and 
girls is how to make a good living. He wants 
to help them learn the kind of work that will 
make them happy. He knows that a person 
must enjoy his work if it is to be a success. 

As he grows older, Leslie will study 
about the great teachers of his race and of 
the white race, too. 

He says, “I want to be able to show my 
( 16 ) 


boys and girls that there is joy and dignity 
in work well done. That is what Booker T. 
Washington taught his students. It would 
be wonderful to go to Tuskegee and to learn 
more of the great teacher, Mr. Washington.” 

Then Leslie thinks of another teacher 
who said, “Manly self-respect is worth more 
than lands and money,” and he agrees that 
Mr. W. E. B. Du Bois spoke the truth. 

“Another fine teacher was president of 
Atlanta University in Georgia for many 
years,” Leslie says. “I want to know more 
about him. His name was John Hope.” 

One day Leslie went to the library to 
find a book that would tell him about Dr. 
Hope. Would you like to hear the story he 
told his classmates the next day? 


( 16 ) 


Dr. John Hope 


John Hope was born in Augusta, Geor¬ 
gia, the second day of June, 1868 , just three 
years after the close of the Civil War. His 
father and mother were poor. They had 
worked hard to make a living since the day 
of freedom; but there had been little oppor¬ 
tunity to save any money. 

John wanted an education. His parents 
wanted to help him but there was little they 
could do. By the time John was eleven years 
old, he was earning his own way in school. 

How many eleven-year-old boys do you 
know? How many of them would be fright¬ 
ened at the thought of having to earn their 
own living? 

It takes a brave boy to go forward when 
there is no one to help him, especially if that 

( 17 ) 





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Dr. Jahn Hope 
( 18 ) 




































































































































































































































































boy is a Negro in the South. It would have 
j been much easier for John to say, “I can’t 
go to school. I am poor. I will just stay at 
home and do what I can to earn my bread 
and meat. It is not possible for me to do any¬ 
thing worth while for myself or for my peo¬ 
ple. But I shall always wish I could have 
gone to school.” 

John Hope was not the kind of boy who 
sat at home and did nothing about his dear¬ 
est wishes. He went out and found a way to 
make them come true. 

Many times he was tired and discour¬ 
aged, but he would not 
give up his plans for 
an education. He must 
have felt it part of his 
duty to live up to his 
name, “HOPE.” 




/ 


After he had finished grade school, he 
worked for about four years. But he wanted 
a higher education. He left his job and en¬ 
tered Worcester Academy in Massachusetts. 
He spent a wonderful year there; but when 
he tried to find work to earn his way in 
Worcester for the next year, he was not able 
to secure employment. 

John said to himself, “What shall I do? 
My parents can not help me. I can not find 
work. Must I leave school? Is there no way 
for me to continue my education?” 

John believed that God helps His chil¬ 
dren. He thought of the minister of his own 
little church in Augusta. Surely a man who 
worked for God would be able to advise a boy 
who wanted only what was right. John loved 
the minister dearly. He went to him and told 
his story. 


( 20 ) 



though he had no money. 

He went from the 
school in Massachusetts 
to Brown University in 
Rhode Island. Most of the 
students at this school were white, too. John 
Hope won many honors at Brown University. 

When the time came for him to graduate 
from Brown University, Mr. Hope was asked 
to be commencement speaker for his class 
there, also. 

During his study at Brown, Mr. Hope 
gave up the idea of becoming a doctor and 
decided to be a teacher. He felt that he could 
be of more help to young Negroes as a 
teacher than in any other way. He took for 
his motto the word, “Service.” From that 
time, his whole life was devoted to serving 
his people and his country. 

(23) 



After teaching at Roger Williams Uni¬ 
versity in Nashville, Tennessee, for a few 
years, Mr. Hope went to Atlanta, Georgia, to 
teach in Morehouse College. He felt very 
much at home in Georgia. 

His work was so successful in More¬ 
house College that a strange thing happened. 
He became president of the college! Until 
Mr. Hope became president of Morehouse, it 
had always had a white person for president. 

That was a real honor, indeed, for Mr. 
Hope. Can you imagine how proud his 
friends were? He did not disappoint them. 
While he was president of Morehouse College 
the enrollment increased from twenty-one to 
three hundred thirty-two students. 

Then came the World War! When 
America sent our young men across the sea 
to face those big guns, Mr. Hope left his work 


( 24 ) 



as president of Morehouse and went with 
them. He felt his country needed him. He 
wanted to help his boys who were fighting 
for Uncle Sam. 

As a special secretary of the Young 
Men’s Christian Association, he worked with 
the Negro soldiers of America. He spent a 
year in France. His services were so great 
that he was later called upon to hold office in 
all branches of the Young Men’s Christian 
Association. He even became an officer of the 
World’s Committee of this organization. 

After the War ended, Mr. Hope came 
home to America. In 1920 Howard Univer¬ 
sity honored him with the degree of Doctor 
of Laws. Three other universities gave him 
similar degrees within a few years. 

In 1929 Dr. Hope was called to Georgia 
again to become president of Atlanta Uni- 

(25) 


versity. He remained there as president un¬ 
til his death in 1936. 

Dr. Hope did not forget his motto. He 
gave a long life of service to his race, to his 
country, and to his God. He helped build 
clean characters among the young people 
with whom he worked. As president of At¬ 
lanta University, he built one of America’s 
greatest schools for his race. His work as a 
member of many groups that study Negro 
life and history, brought honor upon him and 
his people. At all times he tried to bring 
about a better understanding between white 
and colored citizens of the United States. 

One of Dr. Hope’s last great tasks was 
the building of better homes for the Negroes I; 
of Atlanta. He worked with the United 
States government to tear down and remove i 
the old, dirty, fire traps in which many Ne- 
(26) 






g-roes lived. Under his plan model homes 
were built with money from the government. 
These new houses make clean, comfortable 
homes which may be rented at a reasonable 
price. Dr. Hope’s plan was the first of its 
kind ever undertaken by the United States 
government. 


( 27 ) 


SOME THINGS TO TALK ABOUT 

1. What fine teachers have you known? 

2. Tell your friends about some money 
you have earned. How did you earn it? How 
did you spend it? Did you spend it wisely? 

3. If you had no one to help you, how 
might you earn your way through school? 

4. When you are ready for college, 
where do you want to go? Why do you 
choose that college? 

5. If you were president of a college, 
would you go away to war? Why? 

6. Find on a map: 

Where Dr. Hope was born. 

The states in which he went to school. 

The states in which he taught school. 


( 28 ) 



The Spingarn Medal 

“Did the Spingarn Medal go to Dr. John 
Hope in 1936?” asked one of the boys when 
Leslie had finished his story. 

“Oh, yes!” answered Leslie. “That is an 
honor I forgot to tell you about. Dr. Hope 
did win the Spingarn Medal. The committee 


that chose the winner said that Dr. Hope 
should be given the Medal because he was a 
distinguished leader of his race, and one of 
the foremost college presidents in the United 
States, widely and favorably known through¬ 
out the educational world.” 

“What is the Spingarn Medal?” asked 
Opal. 

“It has been said that the Spingarn 
Medal is the most distinguished badge that 
an American Negro can wear,” replied Les¬ 
lie. “About twenty-four years ago, Mr. Joel 
E. Spingarn decided to give a gold medal 
every year to the American Negro who had 
accomplished the highest and noblest work 
during that year or the years which had gone 
before. Mr. Spingarn was at that time chair¬ 
man of the board of directors for the Na¬ 
tional Association for the Advancement of 

(30) 


Colored People. He 
thought that giving 
this medal would help 
to acquaint all people 
with the fact that 
American Negroes 
are accomplishing 
much that is great spingam Medai 

and good. He thought the medal would en¬ 
courage the Negroes, themselves, to do their 
best.” 

“Who is Mr. Spingarn?” Opal inquired. 

“Major Spingarn is a white man who 
lives in New York. He is a highly educated 
man. He has spent much time studying the 
special problems and abilities of Negroes in 
our country. Mr. Spingarn helped organize 
the National Association for the Advance¬ 
ment of Colored People, and has served as 

(31) 



its president for many years. It was Major 
Spingarn who, as president of the Associa¬ 
tion, undertook to see that Negroes should 
have the opportunity of being trained as 
officers in the army during the World War. 
That was a difficult task, but Mr. Spingarn 
worked until it was accomplished.” 

“What is the National Association for 
the Advancement of Colored People?” asked 
Opal. 

“Opal, you surprise me,” answered Les¬ 
lie. “I thought every Negro knew about the 
N. A. A. C. P. It is an organization in which 
Negroes and white people work together for 
the good of our country. It is especially in¬ 
terested in helping Negroes find a way to 
live happier and more useful lives. Some one 
has said that the Association is trying to 
save black America’s body and white Amer- 

(32) 


ica’s soul.” 


“Did you say the National Association 
for the Advancement of Colored People 
gives this Spingarn Medal each year to the 
Negro who has done the most good?” asked 
Opal. 

“Mr. Spingarn gives the medal, him¬ 
self, but it is awarded at the annual meeting 
of the Association,” explained Leslie. 

“How does Mr. Spingarn decide who 
wins the medal?” 

“There is a com¬ 
mittee to decide that,” 

Leslie told Opal. “The 
chairman of the com¬ 
mittee has been the 
same man for many 
years. The other mem- 
b e r s are different 



each year. You will be surprised to learn that 
the chairman of the committee is a grandson 
of an old, old friend. His name is Mr. Oswald 
Garrison Villard, and his grandfather was 
William Lloyd Garrison, the friend of Fred¬ 
erick Douglass, and one of the white men 
who worked and fought so long ago to free 
the slaves. 

“Some well-known persons have helped 
Mr. Villard find the Negro who deserved the 
Spingarn Medal each year. Among them are 
such names as Theodore Roosevelt, Sin¬ 
clair Lewis, and John Embree. 

“At the twenty-second annual meeting 
of the National Association for the Advance¬ 
ment of Colored People, there were many 
sad hearts when Dr. Mordecai Johnson, 
President of Howard University, stood on^ 
the platform to award the Spingarn Medal; 


< 34 ) 



Dr. Johnson had been a student in Dr. Hope’s 
college. He had studied, and walked, and 
talked many a time with Dr. Hope. He loved 
the man to whom the medal was to be 
awarded. He felt it a great honor to be asked 
to present the medal to Dr. Hope. 

“But Dr. Hope was not on the platform 
to receive the medal. At least his body was 
not there; for it had been laid in a grave 
four months before the meeting. Many who 
were there, said they felt the spirit of kind¬ 
ness and service which was the real Dr. Hope, 
as they listened to the talk Dr. Johnson made. 
When he had finished, the medal which Dr. 
Hope was not present to receive, was placed 
in the keeping of Mrs. Hope.’’ 


( 35 ) 


TO HELP YOU REMEMBER 

Choose words from the list on the follow¬ 
ing page. Fill each blank with the correct 
word. 

1. The Spingarn Medal is given to the 

..who has done the greatest work, 

2. The chairman of the committee that 

chooses the medal is ...... 

3. ......was a friend 

of Frederick Douglass and a worker for free¬ 
dom. 

4. Mr. Garrison was Mr. Villard’s 


5... is president 

of the National Association for the Advance¬ 
ment of Colored People. 

6. ...was awarded 


the Spingarn Medal in 1936. 


( 36 ) 








is president of 


7. .. 

Howard University. 

John Hope Mordecai Johnson 

I Negro grandfather 

j Mr. Villard Mr. Spingarn 

Mr. Garrison 


I 

ii 

'I 

I 


( 37 ) 




Talbert Adams 



Here is another guest at the Book Party 
His name is Talbert Adams. Please be ver\ 
kind and polite to Talbert. He worked han 
to get ready to be introduced to you. H« 
wants you for a friend. 

Have you ever heard the name, Talbert, 
before? Do you suppose this fine lookin' 
boy could have been named for the persoj 
who received the Spingarn Medal in 192 
for service to Negro women and for helpini 
restore the home cP 
Frederick Douglass? | 
Talbert has n(, 
father; but he has s 
good mother, two sis¬ 
ters, and five oldei 
brothers. Leslie is no' 



his brother but he lives in Talbert’s home. 
.That makes ten people in one house. 

Talbert and Leslie have great fun. They 
are almost the same size and age. They like 
I to play the same games. Best of all, they like 
to swim together. 

Can you guess what Talbert wants to 
^o when he becomes a man? Look at the 
picture again. Yes, he wants to be a busi¬ 
ness man. He will begin by learning to cook. 
Two of his brothers cook in a cafe. Talbert 
thinks they are good cooks. He wants to be 
^ ike them. See how clean and white his cap 
|itnd apron are! Talbert likes to be clean. 

; tie will cook good, clean food for you. 

I Talbert knows that cooking is hot work 
jin summer; but he is not afraid of work. He 
;s thinking of the delicious food he will pre- 
Ure. He is planning a little place of his 

I ( 39 ) 







very own, where he will serve the best of food 
at reasonable prices. He says he will be so 
prompt and courteous that people will be 
pleased and will come again. 

Talbert knows stories of men who havei 
been successful in business. He laughs whei 
he thinks of Robert Gordon, a Negro wh( 
lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, long ago. H( 
thinks Mr. Gordon was a good business man 
Here is the story. You may read it. 


( 40 ) 







Robert Gordon 

“He’s just another cin¬ 
der! Just one more cinder 
among these great heaps of slack!’’ ex- 
slaimed the big engineer when informed that 
jnother Negro baby had been born. 

I It was in the mining district of Virginia 
In the days of slavery that little Robert Gor¬ 
don first opened his dark eyes. Everything 
n the small cabin-—the furniture, the floor, 
he bed on which the child lay, even the air 
—was black with coal dust. Tiny specks of 
oot settled on the baby’s brow and around 
jiis nostrils, breathing themselves into his 
ielicate lungs. 

But in spite of the coal and the dust and 
fie ridicule, Robert grew strong, intelligent, 
ind happy. 



( 41 ) 




From the time he was large enough to^ 
lift a mining tool and dig in the earth, Roberti 
worked with coal. He learned how to find th(j 
coal that made the hottest fire, or that burneci 
the longest. He learned how to handle thtj 
coal so that there would be as little waste a | 
possible. And he learned to be friendly an.- ; 
courteous toward people who came to bu’ ' 
coal. 

“Robert may be just another cinder,’ 
said his master, “but he has a spark of fire 
in him. He knows more about coal than any f 
one else in these mines. More than that, h' j 



can be trusted.” 


When Robert wa j 
a young man, his mas> 
ter put him in charges 
of one of his coa: 
yards. Robert provec 





;hat he was worthy of the trust. The business 
rrew and grew. It brought much money to 
he white man. 

The man appreciated Robert’s honesty 
nd business ability. One day he said, “You 
re a fine young man. You work hard. You 
re making money for me. I am going to 
ive you all the slack that falls from the coal 
hile it is being handled. You may do what 
DU like with the slack. It is all yours after 
)day.” 

“Thank you,” said Robert. 

And from that day, Robert began to sell 
|ie little pieces that broke off when the coal 
fas moved. They did not bring as much 
ioney as the larger pieces, but Robert sold 
ome every day. He put the money away and 
aved every penny of it. 

Before so very long he had saved a large 

( 43 ) 




sum of money. What do you think he die 
with it? i 

First, he bought his freedom. His ma|li 
ter was proud of him and was glad to sell hir ] 
his freedom. Robert had more than enoug[1 
money to pay for his freedom. He knew whe 1 
he wanted to do with the extra money. 


Then Robert went to Ohio. “This ’ 



place that becomes quite cold in winter. Pe ^ 

pie must have very hot fires for sever' 
months each year. They will buy much coab | 
he thought. ! 

After a time, he started a coal busineii ^ 
for himself in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was 
good business man. He remembered all th&: 
he had learned in the mines and in the cos: 
yard which he managed for his master. H< 
was fair and friendly. Many people came ti 
buy coal from him. He earned and save't 

/AA\ \ ; 


( 44 ) 




luite a sum of money. 

But other people who sold coal in Cin- 
hnnati did not like to see a Negro make so 
nuch money. They said, “He is selling’ more 
;oal than we are. What can we do?” 

One of these men sugg-ested, “Let us re- 
luce the price of our coal. Then our custom- 
will come back to us. We will sell our coal 
such a low price that people will not buy 
is coal. We will drive Robert Gordon out 



of business!” 

“That is a fine plan,” agreed the others 
“We will all reduce our prices at once.” 

They advertised the great sale of coh' 
at reduced prices. In a very short time thej^ 
began to sell a great amount of coal. Th( 
men patted each other on the back anc 
laughed, “That was a smart trick! Soon Rob 
ert Gordon’s coal yard will be closed and w 
will have all the business. Then we can rais 
the price again and all will be well.” ' 

And their plans might have been sue 
cessful if this “cinder” had not containe* 
that “spark of fire.” But Robert Gordon wS 
too shrewd for those coal dealers. He hire 
men to go to them and buy their low-price 
coal. He bought all they had. 

Just when the other merchants had soli 
all their coal, the weather took a hand. Dow 

( 46 ) 







I North the icy winds came roaring, 

i hey spread a mantle of snow and ice over 
fees and houses and fields. They froze the 
I hio River so that no boats could travel its 
aters. The people of Cincinnati shut them- 
1 fives up in their houses and piled coal into 
f 'eir stoves and furnaces. Day and night, 
ey kept the fires burning high. 

The other merchants laughed no more, 
key had sold all their coal and could get no 
.ire until the ice in the Ohio River broke, 
j Mr. Robert Gordon was the only person 
\ Cincinnati who had coal to sell. He became 

I . 1 

rich man. 


( 47 ) 




Charles C. Spaulding 



“I think a man should do the kind o 
work he really enjoys,” said Talbert. “Son^j 
people like to teach school; some like to buitj 
houses or bridges; some like to raise plan | 
or animals; and others want to do many di!| 
ferent kinds of work. When Charles SpaulcJ 
ing was a small boy, he lived and worked <k 
a farm. But he did n|| 
like the farm.” Ij 

“Perhaps he dij 
not like to work,” su' i 
gested Leslie. “The : 
is a great deal of ha^ j 
work to be done op; 
farm.” ' 

“It was not that I 
said Talbert. “Charh; 







C. Spaulding was willing to work. But he had 
a dream of another kind of life. He wanted 
to choose a new work. He wanted to go to 
the city. He wanted an education.” 

“Could he not go to school in the coun¬ 
try?” asked Leslie. “Was the country school 
not good enough for him?” 

“Charles Spaulding lived in North Caro¬ 
lina,” answered Talbert. “He was born in 
1874. How many Negro schools do you think 
there were in the South at that time?” 

Leslie thought for a moment. “Why, 
that was only a few years after the Civil 
War!” he exclaimed. “I suppose there were 
not many schools for Negroes, even in the 
cities.” 

“But Charles Spaulding found a way to 
go to school,” Talbert went on. “To be sure, 
he was a young man before he was able to 

( 49 ) 


do this. Even then, he had to earn his way. 
His first job was in a large hotel in Durham, 
North Carolina. He washed dishes for the 
hotel. That was a big job, but they paid him 
only ten dollars a month for washing all 
those dishes. He did his work cheerfully and 
well. Perhaps that is why, after a time, he 
was given a better position in the hotel.” 

“But,” said Leslie, “I thought he wanted 
to go to school. How could he do all that work 
and go to school?” 

“He could not do both,” answered Tal¬ 
bert. “That is why he left the hotel and found 
another place where he could cook for a small 
family. This gave him time to study, too. 

“In only two years he was able to grad¬ 
uate from grade school. Think of that! It 
takes all our time for eight years to finish 
grade school. What would we do if we had 

( 50 ) 


to earn our living as Mr. Spaulding did? 

“After he had graduated from school, 
Mr. Spaulding tried the grocery business; 
but that was not a success. The people who 
owned the store did not understand how to 
make a success of the grocery business. They 
left Mr. Spaulding with a big debt. It took 
him several years to pay the debt. Then he 
could look the world in the face again be¬ 
cause he had been honest. All he had left was 
his self-respect, his dreams, and his deter¬ 
mination to go forward. 

“Mr. Spaulding had an uncle. Dr. A. M. 
Moore, who had been interested in business 
for some time. Dr. Moore, Mr. John Merrick, 
and several other Negro men had organized 
an insurance company. They had not made 
a great success of the insurance business. 
The other men sold their interests to Dr. 

( 51 ) 


Moore and Mr. Merrick. These two men, 
knowing that Mr. Spaulding was honest, 
intelligent, and willing to work asked him to 
help them with their insurance company. 

“What a task! The idea of a life insur¬ 
ance company for Negroes was new. No one 
in the whole country had made a success of 
such a business. But Mr. Spaulding was de¬ 
termined to succeed. This was the opportu¬ 
nity of which he had dreamed. He worked 
harder and for longer hours than he did as 
waiter and bell boy in the big hotel. He not 
only sold insurance; he kept the books and 


6 ^ 


bank accounts. He 
even swept and 
dusted the office. 


n i n g, Mr. Merrick, 
Dr. Moore, and Mr. 


“From the begin- 


Spaulding were careful about three prin¬ 
ciples: First, they understood every part of 
the business and worked unselfishly for the 
good of the company and of the race. Second, 
they were honest with one another, with the 
people who worked for them, and with those 
who bought insurance from them. Third, 
they really worked to make the business a 
success. 

“So long as Mr. Merrick and Dr. Moore 
were able to work, Mr. Spaulding remained 
as manager of the North Carolina Mutual 
Life Insurance Company. Now he is presi¬ 
dent of the business. More than twelve hun¬ 
dred people work with him. His company has 
large attractive buildings in several states. 
The North Carolina Mutual Block in Durham 
furnishes homes on the lower floors for many 
Negro businesses, such as, barber shops, a 

( 53 ) 


bank, a drug store, a candy shop, and furni¬ 
ture stores. 

“The white people, as well as the black, 
who know Mr. Spaulding have a great re¬ 
spect for him. He has always worked for 
good will between the races. His dream of 
service to Negroes is coming true every day 
as he sees his people working in their chosen 
fields, saving and spending wisely, and be¬ 
coming more independent, useful citizens. 
He is interested in schools for colored people. 
He is treasurer of the Board of Directors for 
Shaw University in North Carolina.” 

“Shaw is a fine school,” said Leslie. “It 
is one of the oldest schools for Negroes in the 
South. It was begun about 1868. It was the 
first Negro university in the South to open 
its doors to women.” 

“Yes,” agreed Talbert, “Shaw is a fine 

( 54 ) 


Charles C. Spaulding 









school. Mr. Spaulding- has helped to make it 
better. Some day I may go to Shaw Univer¬ 
sity. I am sure Mr. Spaulding would tell me 
that it is good business to go to school as 
much as I can.” 


(B6> 



HELPERS FOR YOU 

1. Look at a map of the United States. 
Find North Carolina. Find your state. Which 
direction is North Carolina from your home? 

2. Find Virginia. Which direction is it 
from your home? 

3. Find Cincinnati, Ohio. Which direc¬ 
tion is it from your home? 

4. Which is larger, Ohio or North Caro¬ 
lina? 

5. Which is colder in winter: Okla¬ 
homa, Texas, Ohio, Virginia? 

Why do you think so? 

6. Why were Mr. Gordon and Mr. 
Spaulding good business men? 

How can you train yourself to be a good 
business man or woman? 

7. If you could choose a business, what 
would you select? 


(57) 


Alphonso Mitchell 

May we introduce 
another young man? 
His name is Alphonso 
Mitchell. This is Al- 
phonso’s first Book 
Party but he seems 
friendly and happy. Do you want to know 
him better? 

Alphonso lives with his grandfather and 
his grandmother. His mother lives with 
them, too. He has no brothers or sisters. 

He works in the fields. He plows and 
hoes. He can do almost as much work as any 
man. His mother is not able to work. His 
grandparents are growing old. He likes to 
know that he is helping them. 

Alphonso likes to read stories of forests 

( 58 ) 




and animals. The story of Hiawatha is one 
that he enjoys very much. 

Alphonso likes fun, also, though he finds 
little time for play. His favorite game is 
pitching horseshoes. How would you like to 
play a game with him? He says he plays a 
fair game. 

When he becomes a man, Alphonso 
wants to be a doctor. He wants to help peo¬ 
ple who are ill or hurt. He thinks it would 
be the finest thing in the world to save some 
one’s life. 

“I think one of the greatest acts of Book¬ 
er T. Washington was his plan for Health 
Week,” says Alphonso. “This health pro¬ 
gram began at Tuskegee because Mr. Wash¬ 
ington was interested in training his stu¬ 
dents to be clean and well. The idea has 
grown until now we have the National Negro 

( 59 ) 


Health Movement. Under this Movement, 
the plan has developed into a year’s pro¬ 
gram instead of only a week’s program.” 

Alphonso has been studying about some 
of the fine doctors of his race. “There have 
been too many for me to speak of all,” he tells 
his friends. “But there are not enough doc¬ 
tors for our people. 

“Here are some facts that will surprise 
you. In Oklahoma there is an average of 
1,655 Negroes for each race doctor. In Texas 
there are 4,130 people for each doctor. In 
Tennessee there are 1,630 people for every 
doctor. In Arkansas there are 4,590 persons 
for each doctor. Think of only one doctor for 
so many people! Conditions are even worse 
in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. 

“As for dentists, there is one Negro den¬ 
tist on an average for 9,566 of his race in 
( 60 ) 



Oklahoma. In Texas there is one for 8,636 
people; in Tennessee, one for 6,933; and in 
Arkansas, one for 14,498 people. Yes, in¬ 
deed ! Our race needs dentists as well as doc¬ 
tors. 

“And just imag-ine one nurse trying- to 
look after 3,743 sick persons in Oklahoma! 
In Texas there is one nurse for each 5,253 
people; in Tennessee, one for each 1,739; and 
in Arkansas, one for each 4,237 people. 

“Our race needs more men like Dr. 


( 81 ) 















Augusta, the first Negro surgeon in the 
United States Army. We need more men like 
Charles B. Purvis who did so much to de¬ 
velop the medical school at Howard Univer¬ 
sity in Washington, D. C. 

“Of course a doctor must earn money. 
That is his way of making a living. But when 
I am a man, I will help all who need me. I 
will not wait to see if there is money to pay 
for my services. I will be a good doctor for 
the poor as well as for the rich.” 

Alphonso likes to read about the doctors 
of his race. One that interests him very much 
is Daniel Hale Williams. 


(62) 


CAN YOU TELL? 

1. Who is your family doctor? 

2. How many colored doctors do you 
know? 

3. When you have a toothache, what 
do you do? 

4. Why are there so few Negro den¬ 
tists? 

5. Could a dentist make a living in your 
community? Why do you think so? 

6. How many Negro nurses do you 
know? 

7. How many people do you know, who 
are training themselves to be nurses or den¬ 
tists? 

8. Do you think there should be more 
Negro nurses, doctors, and dentists? Why? 

9. Where is Chicago? Find it on a map. 


( 63 ) 


Daniel Hale Williams 


|L 

Many people in the 
United States were living- 
I I in slavery when Daniel 

Hale Williams was born in 1858. Daniel was 
a Negro; but he was never a slave, because 
he lived in the North where there were no 
slaves. While he was still a small boy, the war 
for freedom was fought and the Negroes in 
the South were set free. 

By the time he was twenty-one years of 
age, Daniel had finished high school and was 
beginning to study medicine. 

Perhaps you are wondering how he 
could go to school. You know there were no 
schools in the South for colored people at that 
time. But in the North, Negro boys went to 
the same schools the white boys attended. 


Daniel Hale Williams studied at North¬ 
western Medical School in Chicago. He grad¬ 
uated from there in 1883. At the age of 
twenty-five, he began to practice medicine. 

Two years later, Dr. Williams had made 
such a fine name for himself that he was 
asked to go back to Northwestern Medical 
School as a teacher. He taught there during 
the next three years. 

By that time the Negroes were all free. 
Many Negroes came North to live. They 
hoped to find better friends and easier work 
in the North. But they did not find many 
friends or much work. The weather was cold 
in the North. The Negroes did not have good 
homes. The changes in the climate and in 
their ways of living made many of them ill. 

Dr. Williams was a true friend. He did 
all he could to help his people. He gave them 

((15) 


medicine. He helped them find work and 
food. But he soon learned that these poor 
Negroes needed doctors and nurses of their 
own race, who would love them and take good 
care of them. 

He found several young men and women 
who wanted to become doctors and nurses. 
He said, “I will take you to the hospitals 
where you can be trained for this work.” 

But when he tried to enter them as stu¬ 
dents, Dr. Williams learned that the hospitals 
of Chicago would not let Negroes come there 



to study or to practice 
medicine and nursing. 


He said, “No one 


can learn to do his 
work well without 
careful study and 
practice. To be a doc- 


tor or a nurse is not easy. One drop of the 
wrong medicine, or one slip of a knife, may 
end a life. We must find a place where our 
men and women can train themselves for 
this work.” 

He began to talk about this great need. 
Wherever he went, he talked about it. 

A new idea grows slowly. Many people 
could not see why Dr. Williams wanted such 
an opportunity for colored men and women. 
They said, “We have white doctors and 
nurses. Let them take care of the Negroes 
who are sick or hurt.” 

But Dr. Williams did not stop working. 
He talked to his friends. He talked to others 
who might be able to help. He wrote stories 
about these colored men and women who 
wanted to learn to be doctors and nurses. He 
wrote about the Negroes who were sick and 

( 67 ) 


hurt in this land so different from their old 
homes in the South. 

At last, because of Dr. Williams’ work, 
a training school for Negroes was opened at 
Provident Hospital in Chicago. He spent 
many years working in this training school. 
He helped many young men and women 
learn to be good doctors and nurses. 

Then Dr. Williams became surgeon- 
in-chief at Freedman’s Hospital in Washing¬ 
ton, D. C. In 1900 he held a clinic at the 
Meharry School of Medicine in Nashville, 
Tennessee. The clinic was such a success that 
he was asked to stay in Nashville and teach 
at Meharry. He did not feel that he could give 
up his work in Chicago and in Washington; 
but for many years he made regular visits 
to Meharry to help the school there. 

While Dr. Williams was at Provident 

(681 



Hospital in Chicago, a strange thing hap¬ 
pened. Late one afternoon a young man was 
brought to him for treatment. The man had 
been stabbed over the heart. Dr. Williams 
dressed the wound and tried to make him 
comfortable. 

Next morning the man was worse. Dr. 

(69) 



Williams examined the wound very carefully 
and found that the knife had cut into his 
heart. 

He thought, “This is bad. No one has 
ever been able to save a man who was hurt 
like that. Other doctors say it is useless to 
try to mend a heart. If I sew the cut place 
together, the man may not live. Then the 
whole world will blame me for his death. If I 
do not operate, the man will surely die. What 
shall I do? Shall I stand here and let him 
die, or shall I operate and give him a chance 
to live?” 

Then Dr. Williams did what only a 
brave person could do. He began to operate. 
He worked swiftly but with great care. The 
nurses he had trained in the hospital helped 
him. They thought, “It is of no use. The man 
can not live. Dr. Williams is brave to try 

(70) 


something no one else has ever done with 
success. It is like him to forget himself in 
working for another person. We will do all 
we can to help him.” 

Perhaps the nurses and Dr. Williams 
prayed as they worked, for the man did not 
die. Before so very long, he was able to work 
again. Brave Dr. Williams had saved his 
life, and in doing this, he performed the first 
successful operation ever made on a human 
heart! 

Newspapers carried the story of Dr. 
Daniel Hale Williams to all parts of the coun¬ 
try. He was honored by many people, both 
black and white. He was invited to become a 
member of the American Medical Associa¬ 
tion and of several other prominent medical 
groups. He became a member of the State 
Board of Health in Illinois. He was sent 

( 71 ) 


across the sea as a member of the Board of 
Appeals during the World War. He wrote 
many articles on surgery which were printed 
in the medical journals of our nation. He is 
listed in Who’s Who in American Medicine. 

Any boy or girl should be happy to say, 
“This man who did so much for his people 
and for the world is a member of my race. 
I am proud to follow such a brave leader as 
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams.” 


( 72 ) 


SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT 

1. If you want to be a doctor or a nurse, 
where can you find a good place to train 
yourself for this work? 

2. Tell at least two ways in which Dr. 
Williams helped his people? 

3. Why did the nurses think it was of 
no use for Dr. Williams to operate upon the 
man’s heart? 

4. Why did the nurses help him so 
carefully? 

5. How did Dr. Williams prove that he 
was unselfish? 

6. How did he prove that he was brave? 

7. You can not do what Dr. Williams 
did. How can you prove that you are un¬ 
selfish? How can you prove that you are 
brave? 


( 73 ) 



George Earl Wallace 

Here is another 
guest at the Book 
Party. His name is 
George Earl Wallace. 
He is a fine young 
man who likes to be 
friendly and helpful. 
How tall and straight 
he stands! You can tell by the way he looks 
into your eyes that he is honest. 

George Earl lives with his mother. They 
have a small field. George Earl hoes cotton 
in the spring and summer. He picks cotton 
in the fall. He says he likes to work. His 
teacher has never heard him complain about 
having to work. 

But George Earl likes to play, too. He 


thinks it great fun to go on a fishing and 
swimming party. He likes to camp down by 
the river if he has a tent to keep wild animals 
and snakes away from his bed. 

When this black boy becomes a man, he 
intends to build things. He does not know 
whether he will be a carpenter or a mechanic. 
He only knows that he must build something 
of which he and his people will be proud. 

George Earl is interested in beautiful 
homes for colored people. He thinks the 
most beautiful houses are made of brick. He 
wants to build a brick house for his mother 
some day. He loves his mother dearly and 
he wants to make her comfortable and 
happy. 

Just now, he is only a boy and can not 
build homes for people; so he builds houses 
for birds. It pleases him to see the birds liv- 

(7r.) 



ing in the houses he has made for them. If 
the birds could talk, no doubt they would say 
to him, “Thank you, George Earl, for the 
pretty cottages you have built for us.” 

George Earl is interested in a story his 
Book Friend told him about a man named 
Benjamin Banneker. It seems that Mr. Ban- 
neker was a builder, too. 


(TO) 




Benjamin Banneker 

Benjamin Banneker was a free Negro, 
born in Maryland, November 9,1731. One of 
his grandmothers, Molly Welsh, was a white 
woman. She was sold to an American to pay 
her passage on the ship which brought her 
from England. She worked seven years for 
her master before she was free. 

Benjamin’s grandmother loved him 
dearly. She taught him to read when he was 
quite small. Her favorite book was the Bible. 
She taught Benjamin to love the Bible, too. 

When Benjamin was old enough to go 
to school, he made good use of his time. 
While the other pupils were playing, he was 
studying. He was interested in many things. 
He studied carefully. 

In the year 1770, Benjamin Banneker 

(77) 


built a clock. You think that was a simple 
thing to do? True, a great many people have 
built clocks. But this was a new kind of 
clock! People in those days were accustomed 
to telling time by sun dials and other kinds of 
clocks that would seem very queer to us to¬ 
day. Mr. Banneker’s clock could strike the 
hours. It was the first clock made in America 
that could strike the hours. 

Imagine how people felt when promptly 
on the hour they heard this unusual clock say, 
“One, two,” or “One, two, three,” or what¬ 
ever the time might be. 

Mr. Banneker had some strange habits. 
At night instead of going to bed, he wrapped 
himself in a great cloak and lay on the 
ground. He spent the night there studying 
the stars and other heavenly bodies. At sun¬ 
rise, he went into the house and slept most of 

(78) 


the morning’. But he did not need as much 
sleep as most of us. Each afternoon, he could 
be found working among the plants in his 
garden or orchard, or trimming his fruit 
trees, or watching his bees. His habit of 
sleeping all morning did not mean that he 
was lazy. 

As a result of his study of the stars, and 
with the encouragement of Mr. George 
Ellicott, a white man who gave him many 
books and useful instruments with which to 
work, Mr. Banneker became one of the first 
Americans to publish an almanac. In his 
almanac, he not only 
printed calendars to 
tell the days and 
weeks and months; 
but he predicted 
weather conditions. 



also. He was able to predict whether the win¬ 
ter would be cold or mild; if the summer 
would be hot and dry or rainy and cooler. He 
could even predict when there would be an 
eclipse of the sun or moon. 

Do you like arithmetic? Mr. Banneker 
enjoyed arithmetic as much as most men en¬ 
joy a baseball game. His friends often sent 
him the most difficult problems they could 
find, just for fun. It is said that he never 
failed to solve them. 

But Mr. Banneker studied mathematics 
with a purpose. It helped him make his clock 
and his almanac. It helped him learn to 
measure large sections of land, to locate the 
best places for roads and bridges. It helped 
him to be what is called a surveyor. 

Some of the most prominent people in 

the United States asked Mr. Banneker’s help 

,( 80 ) 



in surveying. He was a member of the com¬ 
mittee that surveyed and planned our most 
important city, Washington, D. C. It is one 
of the most beautiful, and perhaps the best 
planned city in America. Does it not make 
you happy to know that a Negro helped plan 
our own National Capital? 

George Earl Wallace will tell you, “My 

people love beauty. We love beautiful music, 

poetry and paintings. We love beautiful 

forests, rivers and parks. We love beautiful 
( 81 ) 


cities and wide, paved streets. And we love 
beautiful homes! I am glad a member of my 
race had a part in planning our most beau¬ 
tiful city.” 

While Mr. Banneker was making clocks, 
studying the stars, surveying, and helping 
build beautiful cities, the terrible war was 
fought. Good, strong men were killed. 
Homes were destroyed. Animals and food 
were stolen. Women and children suffered 
from cold and hunger. 

Mr. Banneker saw the terrible results 
of the war. He said, “Why do men fight each 
other like beasts? Why must little children 
suffer? What do people ever gain by war?” 

He read from his beloved Bible, “Jesus 
came into the world, not to destroy men’s 
lives, but to save them.” He thought, “Sure¬ 
ly there must be some way to stop God’s chil- 
( 82 ) 


dren from killing- one another.” And he be¬ 
gan to work upon a plan to end all war. 

Have you watched soldiers marching? 
Do they not look fine in their clean, new uni¬ 
forms? When the band plays a stirring 
march and the soldiers come tramping down 
the street, do you feel something in your 
throat that makes you want to fall in line 
and step to the music with them? Mr. Ban- 
neker thought that the army bands and the 
fine clothes our soldiers wear make young 
people believe war is a glorious thing. He 
said, “If there were no attractive uniforms 
and no stirring music and beating of drums, 
war would not seem so interesting.” 

Mr. Banneker suggested that all spears 
and swords and guns be made into plows and 
other farming tools. He said, “Let these 
weapons of war be used to dig the soil and 

(83) 


help raise food for the children who have lost 
their fathers and their homes.” 

The people who heard of Mr. Banneker 
and his plan said, “Yes, it would be well to 
use these weapons for farm tools. We should 
not make war so interesting for our young 
people.” Then they put their guns and swords 
in special show-cases in museums and in 
other public places so the world could see 
how brave our soldiers had been. They did 
nothing about making them into farm tools. 

Mr. Banneker continued to study and 
plan. At last he found a way which he thought 
would put an end to 
war. He said, “We 
have a Secretary of 
War in the President’s 
Cabinet. Is not peace 
more important than 





war? Let us have a Secretary of Peace in the 
President’s Cabinet, also! Let this Secretary 
of Peace be a real Christian. Give him power, 
to build free schools and to see that the teach¬ 
ers train our children in reading:, writing:, 
and arithmetic. Make it his business to teach 
boys and girls how to cultivate peace, and not 
only to forgive, but to love their enemies. 
Last, but not least, let him put the Holy Bible 
in every American home and teach all mem¬ 
bers of the family to read it!” 

* * * * 

George Earl thinks Mr. Banneker’s plan 
was a good one. What do you think? 


(85) 



Another guest at 
our Book Party is Lois 
Simmons. You will 
want to know Lois bet¬ 
ter. She is a good 
girl. She is clean and 
friendly. She obeys 
her parents and her teachers cheerfully. She 
likes to make other people happy. 

Lois and Opal Bell, the girl who likes to 
go to church, are good friends. They are of 
nearly the same size and age. They go to 
the same school. 

Lois’s father lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 
She stays with him during the summer. She 
lives with her grandfather and grandmother 

during the winter so that she can go to school 

( 86 ) 


Lois Simmons 





at Dunbar with her friends. Lois likes to live 
with her grandparents. Of course, she en¬ 
joys living with her father, too. She says, 
“It is nice to have two good homes.” 

For exercise and fun, Lois enjoys jump¬ 
ing the rope. She thinks it is the best game 
in the world. It makes her body strong and 
healthy. 

Lois wants to be a musician. She thinks 
it would be wonderful to play the violin and 
the piano. She is interested in many things. 
But her real work, when she grows to be a 
woman, is to be teaching. 

She wants to teach the primary grades 
because she loves little children. “It is fun to 
play with them and to help them make toys,” 
she says. 

The little folks who live near Lois’s 
grandmother are always glad when their 

( 87 ) 



young friend comes back from Tulsa. 

One day Opal Bell and Lois were talk¬ 
ing. Opal said, “Oh, how I wish I could have 
heard Sojourner Truth just once! She must 
have been a wonderful woman. Why did all 
the great women live so long ago, I wonder?” 

“There are great women living today,” 
answered Lois. “The Book Friend told me 
about one yesterday. I saw her picture. 
When I am older I shall try to be as much like 
her as I can.” 






“Who is this woman?” asked Opal Bell. 

“Her family and friends call her Mary,” 
replied Lois. “Shall I tell you the story as the 
Book Friend told it to me?” 

“Yes, yes!” cried Opal. “I want to hear 
about this great woman who lives today.” 

“Then close your eyes and sit quite still 
while I think through the story,” suggested 
Lois. “I do not want to forget any part of it. 
Are you ready?” 

“Yes,” laughed 
Opal Bell. “This is a 
new way to prepare 
for a story; but my 
eyes are closed and I 
am ready to be still.” 

And so, the two 
girls sat still with 
their eyes closed as 



Lois tried to remember the story. You might 
have thought them asleep if you had not seen 
the smile on Lois’s face. 

After a long time, she said, “I think I 
remember the whole story. Opal.” 


( 90 ) 


Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune 

On a farm in South Carolina, where the 
sun is so hot that it burns the clouds until 
they cry out and mingle their tears with the 
sweat of the weary workers in the rice and 
cotton fields, Mary spent her childhood. 

Her father and mother had been slaves 
before the War. Now they were working 
hard, trying to make a living for their seven¬ 
teen children. It was no easy task. 

In a family so large, it becomes neces¬ 
sary for some of the children to help the 
parents carry the heavy burden. No two 
people can very well make a living for seven¬ 
teen children. When Mary was only a small 
child, she seemed to understand and to try 
to do more than her share of the work. 

She was neat and quick. She was careful 

( 91 ) 


and always cheerful. Her great love for her 
family helped her forget every tired and 
selfish thought. She was always ready to 
help make them comfortable and happy. 

Yes, Mary was a willing worker. She 
did not complain over the hard tasks that 
kept her busy through the long, long hours 
of every day. Deep down in her heart she 
longed for a chance to go to school. But un¬ 
til she was eleven years old, there was no 
school near enough for her to at¬ 
tend. 

Then a wonderful thing 
happened. News came that the 
Presbyterian Church was send¬ 
ing a young woman to teach 
a school only four miles from 
the little cabin in which Mary 
lived. Four miles! In a land of 

(92) 



narrow muddy roads and no cars! Yet Mary 
was happy. She took her small lunch pail and 
off she went to walk those four miles to school 
every day. 

Mary was one of Miss Wilson’s best 
pupils. She worked so faithfully that she 
won a scholarship which sent her to a larger 
school called the Scotia Seminary. It was 
far away from her little home in South Caro¬ 
lina. 

When the day came for Mary to go to 
Scotia Seminary she was happy and sad at 
the same time. Her teacher had been kind 
to her. She appreciated the kindness. She 
was happy because of the chance to earn a 
better education. But it is sad to say good¬ 
bye to home and friends. Mary had never 
been away from her dear family. Is it any 
wonder that when the train which was to 

(03) 


take her on her first ride arrived, there were 
tears in her eyes? 

When Mary arrived at the new school 
she was so kind and good natured, so bright 
and eager to learn, that she soon won the 
hearts of her classmates and teachers. She 
studied so carefully, and did her work so 
well, that she won another scholarship which 
sent her to the Moody Bible Institute in Chi¬ 


cago. 

Oh, how she loved to study the Bible! 
She had always hoped that some day she 
might go as a missionary to Africa. Like 
the Mary she so often read 
about in her beloved Bible 
^ her greatest joy was to “sit 

at Jesus’ feet and hear His 
Word.” She felt a great 

nv 


longing to carry that Word 

( 94 ) 


to her cousins across the sea on the Dark 
Continent. 

After she had finished her school work 
at the Moody Bible Institute, she went to 
the Board of Missions and asked to be sent 
to Africa. They could not send her. Mary 
was disappointed, but in her cheerful, Chris¬ 
tian way she continued to study her Bible 
and to try to find the work that she felt was 
waiting for her somewhere in the world. 

For several years she taught school in 
the South. When the school day was over 
and her children had gone, what do you 
think their teacher did? Do you think she 
went home to rest? Indeed not! She did 
not stop her work at four o’clock. She did 
not stop even on Saturday and Sunday. 

Like a true missionary and a great 
teacher, she gathered the children from the 

(95) 


streets and from the cabins along the way, 
and took them to Sunday School with her. 
But that was not all. When her work with 
the children was done, she tried to help the 
older people. She even went to jails to talk 
and read and sing and pray with the prison¬ 
ers. She helped many of them. 

But though she accomplished much 
good, this woman was not satisfied. She felt 
there was something more she must do. She 
had seen a great need for a school that 
would train Negro girls to be honest, capa¬ 
ble, refined women. For years she had 
wanted to start such a school for girls. But 
she had no money. How could she begin a 
school without money? 

She decided to go to Daytona, Florida. 
When she arrived she had one dollar and 
fifty cents. That was all. She had no house, 

(96) 


no food, no furniture, and no students. How 
could any one begin a school with none of 
these? 

But wait! One thing more Mary had! 
How could that be overlooked? It was a 
treasure greater than all the money in Flori¬ 
da. Jesus spoke of it in St. Matthew when 
he said: 

“Martha, Martha, thou art 
troubled and careful about many 
things; but one thing is needful; and 
Mary hath chosen that good part, 
which shall not be taken away from 
her.” 

Like the Mary of whom Jesus spoke, 
Mrs. Bethune had the will to work and to 
serve her people. She had also that which 
“is needful”—FAITH. 

This faith led her to the door of a 

(ni) , 


friend who gave her food 
and a bed. It took her to 
a little room which she 
was able to rent on credit. 
It was with her when she 
made furniture from 
boxes the merchants had 
given her. It remained 
while she set her house in 
order for the beginning 
of her great dream. 

Faith sent the tones of her little bell to 
the ears of five girls who came to school 
that first morning. It shone in her face as 
she read to them from the Bible and sang 
with them. It reached out, when she offered 
a gentle prayer, and helped them to see 
something of the goodness and the love that 
lay in the heart of this great teacher. 

(98) 





And so, the new school for girls began. 

Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune, whose faith 
and dreams made it possible, has served as 
its president for more than thirty years. She 
is known throughout the United States for 
her wonderful work. She has been honored 
by many groups, both white and black. At 
the annual meeting of the National Associa¬ 
tion for the Advancement of Colored People 
in St. Louis, 1933, she was given the 
Spingarn Medal. This Medal is presented 
each year to the Negro who has been of most 
service to the race. 

The Bethune-Cookman College has 
grown from five, to more than five hundred 
students. It has more than forty teachers. 
Mrs. Bethune wants her college to be a good 
school rather than a big one. In it, shb wants 

to develop Christian character, race leader- 

( 100 ) 



ship, and good-will between the black and 
white races. 

What do you suppose Mrs. Bethune 
named her first college building? She called 
it Faith Hall! 

This is White Hall, the Administration 
Building, at Bethune-Cookman College. 




Now, this school which started with 
faith and $1.50 has more than two hundred 
acres of land. Thirty-two acres of this land 
are the campus on which fifteen beautiful 
buildings stand. Flowers and moss-covered 
trees make the campus a delightful place on 
which to stroll or study. 

In 1936, the United States government 
asked Mrs. Bethune to help in the National 
Youth Movement. On January 6, 1937, she 
called a meeting of many leaders of the 
Negro race from all parts of the country. 
They met in Washington, D. C. Mrs. Roose- 


velt, the wife of President Franklin D. Roose¬ 
velt, came to the meeting to talk with Mrs. 
Bethune and her friends. Many other prom- 
inent people came, also. 

They talked about farm problems, labor 
unions, schools, anti-lynching laws, health, 
and better homes for Negroes. They worked 
together for several days making plans that 
they hoped would help the Negroes of 
America. 

Mrs. Bethune is a busy, useful citizen. 
If this great teacher and friend of mankind 
still wants to go to Africa, she says little 
about it. She has found missionary work to 
do in her own country, America. 


( 103 ) 



Crispus Attucks 

One day Talbert, 
Leslie, Opal, and Lois 
were talking together. 
Alphonso leaped into 
the group shouting, 
‘ ‘ Hurrah! Tomorrow 
is Thanksgiving! I am 
going to celebrate in a 
big way. Hurrah! 


Hurrah!” ^ 

“You sound more like the Fourth of 
July,” laughed Talbert. ' 

“What does the Fourth of July mean to 
you?” asked the Book Friend who was stand¬ 
ing near. 

“Oh, we shoot firecrackers and have pic¬ 
nics,” said one of the girls. 

(104) 


“It is Independence Day,” answered 
Alphonse. “We celebrate our freedom on the 
Fourth of July.” 

“I thought you had another day on 
which you celebrate your freedom,” said the 
Book Friend. 

“We have Emancipation Day in Texas 
on June the nineteenth,” said Opal Bell. 

“We have Emancipation Day on August 
the fourth in Oklahoma,” explained one of 
the boys. 

“Why do you celebrate Emancipation on 
different days in Texas and in Oklahoma?” 
inquired the Book Friend. 

Lois answered, “I have been told that 
each state celebrates the day on which its 
people first learned that the slaves were free. 
The crops were laid by earlier in Texas than 
in Oklahoma; therefore the people in Texas, 

(105) 


heard the news sooher.” 

“Really, I can’t see why you celebrate 
the Fourth of July at all,” remarked the Book 
Friend. “The Negroes were not free until 
almost eighty years after the end of the 
Revolutionary War and the Declaration of 
Independence.” 

Opal Bell replied, “Grandfather says 
that the freedom our country won in the 
Revolutionary War was the first step in the 
freedom of the slaves within our country. He 
thinks the citizens began to realize that it is 
no more right for one man to own another 
man than for one country to own another 
country.” 

Talbert spoke quickly, “Did you not 
know that the first person to lose his life in 
the War for Independence was a Negro? His 

name was Crispus Attacks!” 

(106) 



“Crispus Attucks! ” said the Book Friend 
slowly. “The name is new to me. I have never 
heard it before. Who was Crispus Attucks?” 

Talbert said, “It makes me very proud 
to tell the story of this black man. 

“The first record we have of Crispus At¬ 
tucks appeared in one of the Boston papers, 
October 2, 1750. It was an advertisement in 
which William Brown promised to pay for 

(] 07 ) 


the return of his runaway slave. It described 
the slave as about twenty-seven years of age, 
six feet and two inches tall, named Crispus. 

“No one seems to know where Crispus 
lived during the next twenty years after he 
ran away from Mr. Brown. Perhaps he was 
in Boston. It is certain that Mr. Brown did 
not find him. 

“During those twenty years this black 
man learned the full meaning of freedom, 
not only for himself and his race, but for the 
nation. He talked with his friends and neigh¬ 
bors. He learned about the British laws, the 
unjust taxes, and the plans to control Amer¬ 
ica. He saw the soldiers who had been sent 
here to collect those taxes. For days and days, 
he watched those British soldiers marching 
through the streets of his beloved Boston, 

carrying guns and threatening the people. 

(108) 


“Then one Friday, Crispus saw those 
same soldiers strike down some men who 
were working peacefully in the streets. The 
next evening Crispus Attucks was talking 
with a group of men and boys. As they stood 
quietly on the ice-covered street, the British 
soldiers came parading by, boasting and 
threatening with their guns and swords. 

“Some of the men on the street cried, 
‘Fire your guns! Fire! Fire, if you dare! Fire, 
cowards!’ Soon every one was shouting, 
‘Fire! Fire!’ Suddenly a bell on King Street 
began to ring. Many people thought there 
was a fire. Out into the snowy street they 
rushed,' to see what was burning. But there 
was neither fire nor smoke. 

“As the crowd walked down King Street 
they were stopped by a British sentry. ■■ ‘Who 
goes there?’ he called, and pointed his sword 

( 109 ), 


at them. 

“This made the people very angry. 
Those behind pushed those in front, trying to 
see what was happening. The main guard of 
the British swarmed into the streets with 
guns loaded and ready to shoot. The red 
coats of the British looked like blood against 
the white background of snow. 

“This was more than the people could 
bear. A commanding figure, six feet and two 
inches tall, picked up a snowball and led the 
attack shouting, ‘The way to get rid of these 
soldiers is to attack the main guard; strike 
at the root; this is the nest!’ He threw the 
snowball. Others threw stones, or snow, or 
anything they could pick up. One struck a 
soldier’s gun. He leveled it and fired into the 
crowd of angry citizens. 

“A man fell, bleeding and dying. It was 

( 110 ) 


Crispus Attucks, who loved his country so 
much that he could not bear to see British 
soldiers mistreat American citizens—Cris¬ 
pus Attucks, the Negro who went forth not 
only to fight for his liberty, but to give his 

life for American liberty.” 

* * 

“I am beginning to see why you feel that 
Negroes should have a part in the celebra¬ 
tion of Independence Day,” said the Book 
Friend. “That is a very interesting story. It 
is strange that I had never heard of Crispus 
Attucks before. Are you sure the story is 
true?” 

“Oh, yes! The story is true,” answered 
Leslie. “Four other people were killed in the 
streets that night. Several more were hurt.” 

“When did all this happen?” asked the 
Book Friend, still not satisfied. 

(Ill) 


Talbert drew himself up to his full 
height and said, “It was on March 5,1770.” 

“But that is the date of the Boston Mas¬ 
sacre!” exclaimed the Book Friend. “Crispus 
Attacks had nothing to do with the Boston 
Massacre.” 

“Crispus Attacks is the man who led the 
Americans in the Boston Massacre,” replied 
Talbert. “Our books do not tell much of him. 
Most of them do not even mention him. They 
say the Boston Massacre was started by a 
group of hot-headed boys and men who lost 
their tempers. I think these men were loyal 
Americans who understood that their coun- 









mm 


. _. ■ . : m& 




W^'.' 








( 113 ) 







try must fight for its freedom from Great 
Britain. They could not stand idly by and 
see British soldiers take charge of their 
country.” 

“There is a monument in Boston which 
you must see some day,” continued Talbert. 
“It is called the Boston Massacre Monument. 
It stands there in honor of Crispus Attacks 
and those other brave men who fell defend¬ 
ing their rights as citizens. The name at the 
top of the list reminds us that a Negro was 
the first to give his life in the struggle to free 
America from the British. These words, 
spoken by John Adams are inscribed on the 
monument: 

“ ‘On that night the foundation of Amer¬ 
ican independence was laid.’ ” 

“Yes, we have a right to celebrate Amer¬ 
ican Independence Day,” said Leslie. “Every 

(114) 


northern colony had its Negro troops during 
the Revolution. They were not separate 
troops. They were scattered throughout all 
the white organizations of the army. At first, 
only free Negroes could join the army; but 
before the end of the war, Negroes were not 
only permitted to join, they were bought 
from their masters and sent into the army 
with a promise of freedom and fifty dollars 
at the close of their service.” 

“That is right,” agreed Talbert. “Cris- 
pus Attucks was not the only Negro who 
proved his bravery and loyalty during those 
trying days.” 

“Goodness me!” cried Alphonso. “I did 
not know that the Fourth of July means so 
much to us. I thought it was just a time to 
have fun and to make a big noise. I believe 
I should like to find a book and read more 

( 115 ) 


about our Independence Day. I wonder if I 
can find one that tells about Crispus Attucks 
and some of those other brave Negro Amer¬ 
icans.” 

And Alphonso went into the library. 


( 116 ) 


Beauty 



Sometimes, when 
we are sad, we can 
help ourselves by look¬ 
ing for the beauty 
that lies all around us. 

Do you ever stop to 
think how many beau¬ 
tiful sights and sounds you see and hear 
every day of your life? 

One day when Opal was feeling lonely 
and wishing to see her mother, Lois said, 
“Oh, see those flowers with dew on them! 
What a fresh, lovely color they have!” 

As the girls walked nearer the flowers, 
the sweet scent of honeysuckle came to them. 
Opal drew a deep breath. “I love to smell 
honeysuckle,” she said. 

(IIT) 



Just then a mocking bird began to sing 
in the big oak tree. The girls stopped to 
listen. 

By the time his song was finished, Opal 
had forgotten that she was lonely. They 
talked of the rainbow they had seen the day 
before; of how the raindrops sparkled as 
they fell in the sunshine; of how green and 
delicate the grass looked after the shower; 
and of how homelike and soothing it had 
seemed when they heard Opal’s grandmother 
singing a lullaby as she rocked her neigh - 



bor’s baby to sleep. 

“The world is full of beauty,” said Lois. 

“But often we do not see it,” added Opal 

Bell. 

“How true!” said the Book Friend who 
had walked down the street to meet Lois and 
Opal. “And we must remember that there 
are beautiful thoughts and acts as well as 
beautiful sights and sounds and scents.” 

“I had not thought of that,” exclaimed 
Opal. “Thinking beautiful thoughts and do¬ 
ing beautiful deeds must be more important 
than seeing or hearing or smelling beautiful 
things.” 

“That is right,” smiled the Book Friend. 
“And that is why your race has very special 
gifts for the world. Why, you know how to 
pray with your feet! You can lift a load of 
sorrow from the soul with your lovely songs. 

( 119 ) 


You have a feeling for harmony of color and 
form that helps you see beauty in the com¬ 
mon things around you. 

“Cultivate your great gift. Help the 
world to rise above its earth-woes!” 


(120) 


Henry O. Tanner 

“Some day, I will be a great artist!” 

• A little Negro boy, standing in one of 
Pennsylvania’s beautiful parks amid the 
green spreading trees and gay-colored blos¬ 
soms, spoke those words. There was a great 
light in his dark eyes. His all-too-slender 
body trembled with excitement, and his thin 
hands clasped themselves together as if in 
prayer. 

Little Henry and his father. Bishop Ben¬ 
jamin Tanner, had gone for a walk that day. 
Henry was not very strong and his father 
thought the sunshine and fresh air would be 
good for him. 

As they walked along the winding paths 

that led from one beautiful scene to another, 

each more lovely than the last. Bishop Tan- 
( 121 ) 


ner told his son Bible stories. Henry always 
enjoyed these stories when his father told 
them. He was especially fond of “Daniel in 
the Lion’s Den,’’ “The Raising of Lazarus,” 
“The Three Marys,” and the “Flight into 
Egypt.” 

When a story was finished, they were 
often silent for a long time. Together, father 
and son stood hand in hand breathing the 
sweet scents of the blossoms, and looking 
their fill at nature’s wonderful pictures. 

Today Bishop Tanner had told Henry 
the story of the two Disciples who went on a 
journey a short time after Jesus was cruci¬ 
fied. “As the Disciples walked along the 
road, Jesus came and walked with them. But 
they did not know Him. They took Jesus into 
their home and gave Him food. Jesus took 
the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave them 



some of it. Then they knew Him!” 

It was a story that Henry loved. He 
moved slowly, with bowed head, and thought 
of that walk with the Master. 

Suddenly, in the silence and the beauty 
of the park, father and son came upon an 
artist painting. With palette in one hand and 
brush in the other, she was adding the finish¬ 
ing touches to her picture. From where he 
stood, Henry could see the canvas on the 
easel. He could see the scene ahead, also. - 
“Father,” he whispered as if afraid he 
might awake from a dream, “what is that?” 


“It is an artist,” said Heniy’s father. 
“She is painting a picture of the beautiful 
scene over there in the park. See how she 
touches the paint on her palette? Then she 
adds a line here and there with her brush, 
and steps back to see how it looks.” 

“Can she make pictures of animals and 
meadows and people, too?” asked Henry as 
he watched the artist. 

“A good artist can put what he sees on 
canvas,” said the father. “Some of our artists 
can paint more than they see. They can pic¬ 
ture what they think and feel, also. But only 
a truly great artist can do that.” 

It was at this moment that Henry said, 
“Some day, I am going to be a great artist!” 
His father smiled. Little did he understand 
how truly the lad spoke. 

After a time, the artist finished her work 

( 124 ) 


and left the park, 

Henry and his father 
went home. The fath¬ 
er thought no more of 
what his son had said. 

But Henry did not 
forget. 

Later, when Hen¬ 
ry cut up the kitchen 
awning for a canvas, 
and tore the back from his geography for a 
palette, Bishop Tanner remembered. Instead 
of scolding, he gave Henry a few cents and 
told him to buy some pretty colors. But that 
was because he was a good father and a kind 
man, not because he understood that Henry 
was to be a great artist. 

From that day, Henry worked and 
studied to be a great artist. Something in his 

( 125 ) 



heart told him that he had been born to paint 
pictures. 

But he was growing up. His father was 
not a' wealthy man. Henry must earn a liv¬ 
ing. Who ever heard of a Negro that made 
a living in America as an artist? He tried to 
sell some pictures. No one seemed to want 
them. 

Finally, Henry took a job in a flour mill. 
But his health had never been good. He had 
to work in the heat and the dust all day. 
There was no time to paint, or even to think 
of Nature’s beautiful scenes. He became too 
ill to work in the flour mill. 

Later, he tried to earn a living as 
teacher at Clark University in Atlanta, 
Georgia. He did other kinds of work in At¬ 
lanta. But he could not be successful or hap¬ 
py unless he was painting. 

( 126 ) 


At last some white artists in Pennsyl¬ 
vania saw Henry’s pictures. They thought 
his work was good. They helped him arrange 
an exhibit in Cincinnati, Ohio. He sold some 
pictures. When he learned that one picture 
for which he received fifteen dollars, was sold 
at once for two-hundred-fifty dollars, Henry 
felt as if he had not been treated well. He 
sold as many pictures as he could and left 
America. 

Across the sea in Paris, France, he 
studied with the finest teachers he could find. 
He wanted to enter a contest and try to win 
a prize which would make it possible for him 
to continue his study. But the contests were 
held on Sunday. Henry remembered the 
teachings of his good father. He thought per¬ 
haps it would not be right to enter a contest 
on Sunday. But at last he arranged to do his 


work on Monday and entered the contest. 

He said to himself, “I am not a great 
artist yet. I shall not try to win the first prize. 

I shall try for the last one. Next time I shall ; 
try for a higher prize. I shall continue trying 
to make my work better until I am ready to ; 
try for first prize.” 

And that is just what he did. < 

Most of Mr. Tanner’s pictures show ^ 
scenes from the Bible. As a boy, he was 
taught to study the Bible. His father’s stories i 
had made a deep and lasting impression upon | 
the young boy. No doubt his early training | 
helped him to make some of the lovely paint- | 

I 

ings for which he is famous. j 

A rich man in Philadelphia became in- | 
terested in Mr. Tanner’s Bible paintings, and 1 
gave him money to take a trip to Palestine, 

the country in which Jesus lived and worked. > 

(12S) I 



X 







The Three Marys at the Tomb of Jesus, by Henry O. Tanner 







This was a great help to Mr. Tanner. While 
he was in Palestine, he learned that the 
French government had bought one of his 
pictures called “The Raising of Lazarus.” 

Other countries saw that Henry 0. Tan¬ 
ner was a fine artist. Now his pictures are 
shown in the famous art exhibits of a great 
many countries of the world. 

The “Disciples of Emmaus” and “The 
Annunciation” hang in the Luxembourg; 
“The Raising of Lazarus” is on exhibit in the 
Louvre. 

In our own country, “Judas” is at the 
Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh; “Nico- 
demus” won the Walter Lippincott prize^ in 
1900 and was bought by the Pennsylvania 
Academy of Fine Arts; “The Three Marys” is 
at the Chicago Art Institute; “The Disciples 
at the Tomb” won the N. W. Harris prize in 

( 130 ) 


1906 as the best painting at the annual ex¬ 
hibit of American painters at the Chicago 
Art Institute, and is there now; “Sodom and 
Gomorrah” is at the Metropolitan Museum of 
Art in New York City. 

America had not encouraged Mr. Tan¬ 
ner; so he did not return here to live. He did 
come back several times, and he won many 
honors here because of his pictures. Al¬ 
though he did not live in America, he was 
loyal to his native land. During the World 
War he served eighteen months on the field 
of battle with the American Red Cross. 

In June, 1937, Mr. Tanner passed from 
this life at his home in Paris. He had not 
visited the United States for about fifteen 
years; but he was still a citizen of this coun¬ 
try. The whole world was sad because of his 
death. Many people said, “We are proud of 

( 131 ) 


the man who heard and answered the call of 
his heart in the park that day—the call that 
brought the words, ‘Some day I am going to 
be a great artist!”’ 


( 132 ) 


WHAT DO YOU THINK? 


1. What is the most beautiful thing 
you know about? 

2. What are you doing to make the 
world more beautiful? 

3. Which do you think more beautiful: 
a person with fine clothes? a person with a 
kind heart? 

4. If you could be an artist, what kind 
of pictures would you paint? 

5. What special gifts did the Book 
Friend say Negroes have? Was she right or 
wrong? 

6. What special gift do you have for 
the world? What do you expect to do with this 
gift? 


( 133 ) 


Rain at Night 


“Was that thunder?” asked Leslie one 
night after dinner as he and Talbert sat read¬ 
ing the newspapers. 

Talbert was busy reading and did not 
answer. 

Leslie heard the sound again. “Oh, me! ” 
he complained. “I do hope it will not rain to¬ 
night. Our ball team is going to play a game 
with the sixth grade tomorrow. If it rains 
tonight our plans will be spoiled.” 




“You should live in Lima,” said Talbert. 
“It scarcely ever rains there.” 

“Where is Lima?” asked Leslie. 

“It is a city in South America,” answered 
Talbert. “I was reading a story in the paper 
about a boy who was born in Lima. When he 
was eight years old, his mother brought him 
to this country for a visit. 

“One morning when the boy awoke, he 
heard strange sounds. He ran to the window 
and looked out. Water was streaming from 
the roof! It was a queer sight to him. Can 
you imagine how it would be to see rain for 
the first time? What would you think? 

“This boy listened to the drops as they 
pattered on the roof. ‘The house is on fire!’ 
he thought. He raised the window; but in¬ 
stead of smoke, it was water that came rush¬ 
ing in at him. It made him wet and cold. 

(136) 


“His mother was still sleeping- in her 
warm bed. The boy ran to her and called, 
‘Mother! Mother, wake up! The house is on 
fire! Hear the firemen pouring- water on the 
roof?’ 

“His mother sat up in bed quickly. She 
looked out of the window. She saw the clouds 
and the falling water. Just then there came 
a loud clap of thunder. 

“ ‘Oh, goodness me, it is an earthquake! ’ 
cried the frightened boy. ‘What shall we do?’ 

“ ‘Do not be afraid,’ said his mother. 
‘The house is not on fire. There is no earth¬ 
quake. The noise you just heard is called 
thunder. Thunder does not hurt any one. The 
water you see is not being poured on the roof 
by men. It is rain!”’ 

Leslie laughed, “That is a funny story. 
Is it really true?’’ 


( 136 ) 


“Well,” replied Talbert, ‘T read it in the 
newspaper. Here it is. You may read it for 
yourself.” 

At that moment Lois came into the 
room. 

Leslie called, “Come and sit down, Lois. 
Talbert has just read an interesting story 
in the newspaper about a little boy who 
thought the house was on fire when he saw 
his first rain. What do you think of that?” 

( 137 ) 



But before Lois could answer, another 
loud clap of thunder roared out. Leslie 
frowned as he remembered the ball game he 
wanted to play tomorrow. 

“Leslie doesn’t want it to rain tonight,” 
Talbert told Lois. “Just look at that frown 
on his face.” 

“My grandmother told me a beautiful 
story the last time it rained at night,” said 
Lois. “I was lying with my head under the 
covers, trembling with fright. Grandmother 
found me there. She sat beside me and 
made that storm sound like music to me. 
I think I shall always love rainy nights.” 

“But I want to play ball tomorrow,” be¬ 
gan Leslie. 

“Sh!” whispered Lois. “Itv is begin¬ 
ning! Let us turn out the lights and listen. 
I love to sit in the darkness and hear the 

(138) 



Paul’s Photos 


rain voices. I imagine the fairies are giving 
a concert. The patter-patter-patter of tiny 
drops sound like fairy music. The whole 
world is the opera house. The darkness of 
night is a smooth black velvet curtain, hang¬ 
ing before the stage. 

“There! Did you see that flash of light? 
It is the signal to begin. Now there is a 
great stillness! The conductor has just 
lifted his arms for attention. Every fairy 
player is holding his breath, watching and 
waiting! 


( 139 ) 


“The conductor moves his baton. Lis¬ 
ten! 

“Tonight the music begins with a loud 
crash of drums and cymbals. Sometimes its 
first tones are the soft, sweet strains of the 
violins. Close your eyes and hold your 
breath! Do you hear many other instru¬ 
ments joining, one by one, in the beautiful 
harmony? How lovely! Who, but the fair¬ 
ies, could make such wonderful songs? 

“Sometimes the music is joyful and glad; 

Sometimes it tinkles like swift dancing 
feet; 

Sometimes the story is wailing and sad; 

Sometimes its tale is delightfully sweet. 

Often its message brings hope and good 
will; 

Always its tones are in perfect accord. 

(140) 


Once, I distinctly heard, ‘Peace, be still! 

Open your heart to the love of our Lord!’ 

“But what is that? Wind, did you say? 
Oh, no! Not just plain, everyday wind! It 
is the voice of the king of all good fairies. 
Hark! Hear the high, tender call of the 
queen! Now all the fairies are joining in. 
Does it not lift your thoughts to the very 
gates of Heaven? 

“And just think, Leslie and Talbert! 
This divine concert, directed by the Great 
Conductor of the Universe, comes to us free 
as the air we breathe! All the world, rich 
and poor, black and white, good and bad, 
can enjoy it if they only will.” 

“Thank you Lois,” said Talbert and 
Leslie. “You have made us see beauty as we 
have never seen it before. You are a friend / 

( 141 ) / 



worth having.” 

Lois replied: 

“And so I dream when it rains at night, 
Then I wake to find a world all new, 
With grass washed clean, with skies so 
bright. 

With a happy home, and friends like you.” 


f 


( 142 ) 




SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT 

1. Was the story of the little boy from 
Lima true? Does it rain in Lima, South 
America? 

2. How did Leslie feel about the rain 
after Talbert’s story? 

3. How did Leslie feel about the rain 
after Lois’ story? 

4. How many musical instruments can 
you name? Tell what each looks like. 

5. Which makes more beautiful music, 
instruments or voices? 

6. Which kind of music do you like 
best? 


dances marches 


spirituals 



Who Likes Geography? 

It was almost time for the geography 
lesson. The class was trying to study the 
map of the United States. 

“Oh, dear me!” sighed George Earl. 
“I don’t like geography. I try and try, but 
I just can’t understand what it is all about. 
At first I thought geography would be 
grand, because it came in such a large book. 






The pictures looked very interesting-. But 
when I tried to find out about them, the 
words were so big and strange that I could 
not read them.” 

“It seems like a puzzle to me,” Lois 
complained. “The teacher tells us that when 
we sit at our desks, we are facing south. 
Then she says that the top of every map is 
always north. Now here is the rub. Look! 
I lay my book on my desk. I sit at my desk 
facing south. The top of my map seems like 
south to me. Wait! I wonder if south is 
sometimes north, and if north is sometimes 
south? In that case east is west and west is 
east, I suppose. Dear! Dear! This is worse 
[ than Alice in Wonderland. I can’t even de¬ 
cide which is top and which is bottom!” 

Alphonso drew a long breath. “Your 
troubles are small compared to mine, Lois. 

( 145 ) 



Come here everybody! I need some help. 
What I can’t understand is this,” and he 
put his hand on the globe. “If the equator 
is only an imaginary line, why is it so hot? 
And if the North Pole is not a pole at all, 
why did Commander Peary say, ‘Stars and 
Stripes nailed to North Pole, April 6, 
1906’?” 

“I wish some one would explain to me,” 
groaned Leslie, “Why a beautiful little 

(146) 



stream with green trees along the bank, and 
cool running water in which to swim, is only 
a thin crooked line on a piece of paper in our 
geography.” 

“Why is a city a small round dot?” 
asked Talbert. 

‘T can’t decide whether the map of Okla¬ 
homa looks more like an Indian’s battle- 
ax or a rancher’s big frying pan with a 
short handle,” groaned George Earl. “I 
grow so weary trying to figure it all out!” 

“If we could only travel!” suggested 
Opal Bell. “That is the best way to learn 
geography. A person who travels learns 
about the weather, the crops, the roads, the 
cities, and the people in different parts of 
the country. He sees the schools and 
churches, the hills and the rivers. Some¬ 
times he even goes across the ocean. He 

(1-47) 


visits places in which famous people have 
lived and worked. If I could travel, I should 
want to go first to New York City. That is 
where Sojourner Truth joined the church.” 

Alphonso, who was still thinking about 
the equator, asked, “Is it hot or cold in New 
York City? I think it is somewhere between 
the equator and the North Pole. But if they 
are both imaginary places, perhaps New 
York City is an imaginary place, too.” 

“Oh, no!” exclaimed Opal Bell. “New 
York City is a real place. It is the largest 
city in the whole world. It must be a beau¬ 
tiful city with its tall buildings and its lovely 
parks. When I am older and can travel, I 
shall go to New York City.” 

“Which way will you go?” asked Lois, 
who was still bothered about directions. “Is 
New York City north or south?” 

( 148 ) 



“Let me think,” said Opal Bell. “I shall 
try to find it on the map.” 

Leslie looked across the table at the two 
girls. “That gives me an idea!” he said. He 
walked to the large map that hung on the 
wall. “I am going to find Atlanta. Let me 
see! Atlanta is in Georgia. Is it north or 
south? Is it east or west? Dr. John Hope 
was president of Atlanta University. I want 
to go there some day. Where is Atlanta?” 






Leslie began to trace his finger across 
the big map saying, “Georgia—Georgia— 
Atlanta^—Georgia. Oh, here it is! Here is 
Atlanta, Georgia!” 

Talbert decided to find North Carolina, 
the home of Mr. Spaulding’s Life Insurance 
Company. “North Carolina is not so far 
from Georgia,” he said. “We can travel 
most of the way together, Leslie.” 

“I can go with you to Tennessee,” Al¬ 
phonse remarked as he pointed to the map. 
“I shall go to Nashville and visit the Meharry 
Medical School. Perhaps I can learn more 
about Dr. Williams while I am there.” 

George Earl thought, “They are just 
pretending to have fun. Geography can’t 
be fun! ButT think I shall open my book 
and really try to find the city that Mr. Ban- 
neker helped to plan. Let me see! Was it 

( 150 ) 



New York City? Was it Chicag-o? Was it At¬ 
lanta? Oh, my! With all the talk of this and 
that, I can’t remember what I want to find.” 

He turned to the teacher and asked, 
‘Will you please tell me what city Mr. Ban- 
neker helped to plan?” 

While George Earl and the teacher were 
talking, Lois decided that she would like to 
go to Daytona Beach. She knew it was in 
Florida. But where was Florida? It must 
be south because the weather is warm in 
Florida. “If the top of the map is north, 

( 151 ) 





then iFlorida must be toward the bottom,” 
thought Lois. 

“Oh, here is Florida!” cried Lois. “What 
a queer place it is. Why it looks like a thumb 
on a mitten-covered hand. If it did not 
point down, we might think it was asking 
for a ride. Now, where does Mrs. Bethune 
have her school? There it is at Daytona 
Beach! It seems to be about halfway be¬ 
tween the first and second joint of the funny 
Florida thumb. Look! The Atlantic Ocean 
is right beside it. How clean Florida must 


be from the constant scrubbing it gets every 
day from the Atlantic Ocean!” 

Just then the bell rang. It was time 
for school to be dismissed. 

“Oh, good! ” said the boys and girls. “We 
didn’t have our geography lesson today.” 

The teacher smiled. “You have had a 
very interesting geography lesson today. I 
think you have learned much. I like your 
idea of going places in geography. It would 
be fine if we could really visit our friends in 
other states.” 

“Since we can’t really travel, why not 
pretend?” asked Opal. “We can enjoy play¬ 
ing that we are visiting our friends.” 

“Shall we ride in a car or go on the 
train?” asked Alphonso. 

“Oh, let us ride in a car,” said Leslie. 
“We can take pictures along the way.” 

( 153 ) 


DO YOU REMEMBER? 

1. Which two words would George 
Earl choose to describe geography? 

beautiful helpful pleasant 

difficult grand unpleasant 

2. Which state reminds Lois of a 
thumb? 

3. Which is north on a map? 

4. Why did the children enjoy their 
study of geography? 

5. What does the map of Oklahoma 
look like to you? 

6. Why is it so hot at the equator? 

7. Is the North Pole a real pole? 

8. What city did Mr. Banneker help 


plan? 




A New Kind of Geography 

“How can we drive a car in this mud?” 
laughed Alphonso the next morning after 
the class had decided to travel. “It must 
have rained all night long.” 

“Our back yard looks like the Atlantic 
Ocean,” cried Lois. “The creek that runs 
behind our house overflowed. The water 
came almost to our kitchen door.” 





“That sounds like the Mississippi 
Eiver,” remarked Talbert. “Do you remem¬ 
ber the story of John Little, the Negro who 
saved a hundred lives when the Mississippi 
Eiver overflowed?” 

“But if the creek is like the Mississippi 
Eiver, then our back yard can’t be the At¬ 
lantic Ocean,” Lois objected. 

“Why not?” Talbert wanted to know. 

“Well, in the first place, the Mississippi 
Eiver does not touch the Atlantic Ocean,” 
answered Lois. “And there is no land be¬ 
tween the creek and the water in our back 
yard.” She found a map and showed Talbert 
that there is land between the Mississippi 
Eiver and the Atlantic. 

“How would you like to postpone our 

trip, since the roads are so muddy today?” 

asked the teacher. “We need to study our 
(166) 



road map a little more before starting on 
our journey, anyway.” 

“Why can’t we build a big map of our 
own, with real rivers and lakes?” asked Al¬ 
phonse. “We all wore our rain coats and 
boots today. A little rain and mud will not 
hurt any of us.” 

It was a happy group that planned and 
marked off a great map of the United States 
on the school ground that morning. There 
was much talking and laughing, but the 
boys and girls were in earnest about their 

( 157 ) 



map. They wanted to make it exactly right. 
They were careful to make the top of the 
map at the north side. 

After much planning, they decided just 
where to place the map and how large to 
make it. 

They pulled the wet dirt from the cen¬ 
ter and heaped it near the east and west 
sides to make the mountains. This left the 
low part in the center for the long Miss¬ 
issippi River and its branches. 

They called the wet place east of the 
map, the Atlantic Ocean. On the west, they 
put the Pacific Ocean. A little pool at the 
south end became the Gulf of Mexico. 

Lois carefully shaped the “Florida 
thumb” as she called it. She cut a picture 
of a woman and some children from a paper 
and put it in the place she thought the 

( 158 ) 


Bethune-Cookman College should be. Then 
she printed a large sign which read, 
“Bethune-Cookman College.” She placed 
the sign beside the woman and children. 

Before the map was finished, the sun 
began playing hide-and-seek among the 
clouds. The boys and girls stopped to watch 
the water ships sail away and disappear, 
leaving the smiling sun alone in his great 
blue sea above the earth. 

“Now,” they cried, “the sun will bake 
a crust on our map. Then we can put some 
lime on the tops of our mountains. It will 
look like snow.” 

“But the sun always melts snow,” ob¬ 
jected Alphonso. 

“Oh, no!” Opal explained. “Many of 
our mountains have snow on them the year 
through. Once I went to a great mountain 

( 159 ) 


called Pike’s Peak. It always has snow near 
the top. Pike’s Peak is in Colorado. Now, 
let me think! Is Colorado east or west of 
the Mississippi River?” 

“Which way did you travel from here. 
Opal, when you went to Pike’s Peak?” asked 
George Earl. 

“Oh, now I know! Thank you, George 
Earl, for the question. We went west from 
here,” smiled Opal. 

And so the boys and girls worked and 
talked until the bell rang for recess. “Can 
it be- possible?” they asked their teacher. 
“Is it really time for recess?” They all 
stopped work and looked at their teacher to 
see if it really was recess time. 

The teacher said, “Yes, it is time for 
recess. It has been a fine morning. We 
have had a new kind of school in which you 

(IGO) 


have studied the subject you think you dis¬ 
like so much, GEOGRAPHY.” 

“Well, if we have studied geography 
this morning,” said George Earl slowly and 
thoughtfully, “I like it. I thought geog¬ 
raphy was only a book full of big words 
and queer marks that don’t even look like 
what they stand for! But, goodness me! 
This geography is made of dirt and water 
and people and things! May we have some 
more geography of this kind?” 

“Yes,” replied the teacher. “We shall 
begin our journey in the car tomorrow. We 
shall leave our map here. When we return 



we shall show on the map, all the interesting- 
things we have seen. 

“I wish grandmother could go with us,” 
sighed Opal. “She has always wanted to 
travel.” 

“When our trip is over and everything 
is pictured on the map, we can invite our 
parents to come and see where we have 
been,” suggested Lois. 

“Each of us can tell about the place he 
enjoyed most,” Talbert added. “I am sure 
I shall like North Carolina best. It will be 
fine to tell our visitors about Mr. Spaulding 
and his insurance business. I should like to 
show them just where that seven-story 
building is to be found.” 

“I think I shall find more of our Negro 
schools and put them on the map,” said Les¬ 
lie. “It will be interesting to take our par- 
(162) 



ents to Tuskegee, Hampton, Atlanta, How¬ 
ard, Shaw, and other fine colleges.” 


“When we visit Fisk University, may we 
pretend that we are the Jubilee Singers?” 
asked Opal. “We can sing some of our beau¬ 
tiful spirituals.” 

“That is a good plan,” agreed Leslie. 
“Of course, we can not sing quite so well as 
the Jubilee Singers, but our parents will un¬ 
derstand. Perhaps they will sing with us.” 

The boys and girls were so interested 
in their plans that they forgot to stop for 
recess. When the bell rang for them to go 
into the schoolhouse, they had a good laugh. 

( 163 ) 





“Just think!” cried George Earl as they 
stood looking at their map. “We are finding 
geography so much fun that we forget to 
remember to play at recess!” 


< 164 ) 


CAN YOU TELL? 

1. Does the Atlantic Ocean touch the 
Mississippi River? 

2. Is Bethune-Cookman Colleg-e nearer 
the Atlantic Ocean or the Mississippi 
River? 

3. Are there more mountains on the 
east or the west side of the United States? 

4. Why does the sun not melt the snow 
on some hig-h mountains? 

5. Is Colorado east or west of the 
great Mississippi River? 

6. What is geography? 

7. • Why did the children forget to play 
at recess? 

8. If you could take a trip, where 
would you want to go? 


(IGo) 


How Are Stories Made? 


The next day after the boys and girls 
made their United States map, it rained 
again. “It is too bad,” said Opal, “but I 
think we can find something interesting to 
do.” 

“Here is a story you may enjoy,” said 
the teacher. “It is called the Winged Horse. 



One of our famous authors wrote it.” 

The boys and girls read the story quiet¬ 
ly. When they had finished, they talked 
about the story. “If we had a Winged Horse 
we could take our trip today,” suggested 
Talbert. 

Alphonso looked thoughtful. He said, 
“I don’t see how any one can write stories 
like the Winged Horse. What caused Mr. 
Hawthorne to think of a horse with wings?” 

“Perhaps he dreamed about it,” sug¬ 
gested Lois. 

“Why should he have such queer 
dreams?” Alphonso wondered. 

“Oh, he may have eaten too much; or | 
he may have been reading fairy tales before 
he went to bed,” explained George Earl. 

Talbert’s eyes were bright as he said, 
“Not long ago I read a story about Charles 

( 167 ) 



Underwood and Underwood^ 


Spirit of We 
















Lindberg-h’s flight to Paris. It told of Mr. 
Lindbergh’s long trip alone across the At¬ 
lantic Ocean from New York to Paris. It 
was the first non-stop flight across the 
Atlantic. All the world waited and watched 
for him to arrive safely in Paris. What a 
crowd came out to meet him when he did 
finally land in France! How they cheered 
for this brave man! 

“I looked at a picture of the monument 
Paris has built in honor of Mr. Lindbergh. 
The picture is in the Source Book. It is a 
very unusual monument. 

“The monument is called ‘The Spirit of 

We.’ 

“That night after I had gone to bed, I 
kept thinking of this monument. When I 
went to sleep, I had a wonderful dream.’’ 

“Tell us your dream, Talbert!’’ cried the 

(ICO) 


other boys and girls. 

“May I tell them my dream?” Talbert 
asked the teacher politely. 

“Indeed, you may!” she replied. 

All the children sat straight and tall. 
Talbert walked to the front of the room. It 
was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop 
on the floor. 

Talbert began to tell the story of his 
dream. 




Talbert’s Dream 

It was Armistice Day. I was on my way 
to town to see the big parade when a gentle 
flutter just above my head made me look 
upward. There was “Lindy” smiling down 
at me from his airplane. 

But what a queer plane it was! Its 
wings were covered with feathers. They 
looked like the wings of a giant dove. The 
airplane had no propeller, no motor, and 



nobody except Mr. Lindbergh, himself. 

The strange plane glided quietly down 
to the ground and stopped beside me. 

“Oh, Mr. Lindbergh,” I called, “have 
you come to take part in our Armistice Day 
parade?” 

He shook his head and smiled, but said 
nothing. I remembered that he had always 
been the sort of person who says little or 
nothing. 

Then came a big surprise! Before I 
knew what had happened, I found myself 
sitting between the great, soft wings of the 
strange airplane, and we were floating to¬ 
ward the clouds. 

“Where are we going?” I wondered. 
I was not afraid. I remembered that Mr. 
Lindbergh’s trips are always good-will visits. 

On and on we flew, faster and faster. 

( 172 ) 


I was sure we were going- faster than the 
wind. At times we basked in the warm sun¬ 
light. At other times we slipped, silent as a 
ghost through a chill gray mist. Once we 
seemed to be just hanging to the bottom of 
a big, dark cloud. 

After a very long while, we began to go 
down, down, down! I could not see what was 
beneath us, but “Lindy’s” feathers were un¬ 
ruffled. He was as calm as a summer sea; so 
I knew that all was as right as could be. 

We landed smoothly. Hundreds of peo¬ 
ple came running up from all sides asking 
eagerly, “Did you come from America? 
Where are your engine and your propeller?” 
and many other questions we could not un¬ 
derstand because of the strange language 
most of them spoke. 

Where do you suppose we had landed? 

( 173 ) 


“Was it Paris?” asked Lois. 

“No it wasn’t Paris.” 

“Was it Mexico?” asked Opal. 

“No, it was not Mexico. I shall tell you 
some of the things we saw. Perhaps that 
will help you decide where we landed.” 

My eyes must have been very wide. I 
had never seen anything at all like the place 
in which “Lindy” and I found ourselves. 

It looked like a fairyland of flowers. 
Maple trees hung like red and orange clouds 
above the giant chrysanthemums growing 
everywhere. Even the shops, with their 
front walls open to the sidewalks, were 
decorated with bright colored maple leaves 
and flowers. 

Across the street I saw a strange art 
exhibit. It was full of wonderful pictures. 
But these pictures were not painted. They 

( 174 ) 



were living pictures! Yes, they were made 
of flowers that were still growing in the 
garden. They had been trained into the 
most unusual shapes. One looked like a big 
open umbrella. Another might have been 
Columbus’ ship sailing on a sea of flowers. 
Still another looked like a large car. There 
was one that looked like an airplane. 

It was the most beautiful garden I have 
ever seen. “Can this be real?” I asked my¬ 
self. 

Red and white 
flags were flying from 
every house. Each flag 
had a large red sun 
from which the rays 
seemed to spread. 

Men. dressed in 
uniforms hurried 


through the streets of the little city. Soldiers 
marched in long lines to the strangest music 
I had ever heard. It was not at all like the 
stirring marches we hear in America when 
our soldiers march. 

But though the soldiers passed in pa¬ 
rade, I felt sure there was no war in this 
country of my dream. All the men, women, 
and children had smiling faces. People do 
not look so happy when their fathers and 
sons are going away to war, do they? 

As I looked down the street and across 
the living art exhibit, I saw great crowds of 
happy people everywhere. Some walked. Oth¬ 
ers rode in queer little carriages pulled by 
small men with yellow skin. The people had 
dark, slanting eyes and straight, black hair. 
They all wore gay-colored kimonos. Even the 
men wore kimonos. 


(176) 


Just as I was about to stop one of the 
men with his queer carriage, I awoke and 
found that it was all a dream. I suppose the 
story I had read and the picture of the monu¬ 
ment caused me to have the dream. 


(177) 


HELPERS FOR YOU 

1. Write on a piece of paper the name 
of the country Talbert dreamed of visiting. 

2. Write at least one reason why you 
think it was that country. 

3. What is the name of the queer little 
carriage pulled by yellow-skinned men? 

4. Draw at least two pictures as Tal¬ 
bert described them. 

5. If you should go to Japan today, 
would you find the people so happy? Why do 
you think so? 

6. Tell of an interesting dream you 
have had. Try to make your story as inter¬ 
esting as Talbert’s. 



Preparing for a Journey 

“I wish I could go to Japan,” said Opal 
after Talbert had told of his dream. “When 
I am a woman, I hope I can travel and travel, 
all around the world.” 

Alphonso frowned, “Travel costs too 
much money. I suppose I’ll never be able to 
see any foreign countries.” 

“You can read stories about them and 
enjoy them almost as much,” Talbert said. 


“And we can take imaginary trips,” 
added Lois. 

“The rain seems to have spoiled our 
plans for a trip through our own country,” 
said Leslie. “Let us study our geography and 
find all the stories and pictures we can about 
the United States. We can do that while it 
rains. Then let us take an imaginary trip in 
an airplane to a foreign country. Talbert’s 
story has made me want to fiy across the 
sea.” 

“I think that is a fine idea,” said Lois. 
“I have often thought that some day I might 
like to live in another country. I should like 
to fly across the sea and learn how people 
live over there.” 

“First, we must decide where we shall 
go,” said Talbert. “Then we can get our maps 
and learn in which direction to go. We shall 



want to know how far it is, too. We might 
even find out how much a real trip to that 
place would cost.” 

“We must decide what clothes we shall 
need,” suggested Alphonso. 

“Now, what difference does that make?” 
Talbert inquired. 

Alphonso said, “If we go in an airplane, 
we must take nothing except what is neces¬ 
sary. Do you remember what Mr. Lindbergh 

( 181 ) 



took with him on his flight to Paris?” 

“You are right,” agreed Talbert. “I do 
not know exactly what Mr. Lindbergh took, 
but I remember that he took nothing that 
was not necessary. An airplane can not be 
loaded down with clothes and food.” 

“But we would freeze in Little America 
if we wore the same clothes that we could 
wear comfortably in Japan,” Alphonso said. 

“You are right again,” agreed Talbert. 
“We must decide what clothes to take.” 

“I should like to keep this a secret,” Lois 
said. “Everyone thinks we are going on a 
trip through the United States. Let-us tell 
no one where we are going. We can take pic¬ 
tures while we are gone. When we come 
home, we shall invite our parents and friends 
to hear about the journey. We can show the 

pictures and let them guess where we have 
( 182 ) 


been. Think how surprised they will be!” 

“That will be interesting,” agreed the 
group. “We all like secrets and surprises.” 

When the boys and girls went home that 
afternoon, they pretended to be getting 
ready to go on a journey. Not one of them 
would tell where they were going, though. It 
was fun to have all the fathers and mothers 
and the brothers and sisters trying to guess. 

“I think you are going to North Caro¬ 
lina,” said Talbert’s big brother. 

“I believe you will go to New York City,” 
said Opal’s grandmother. 

“I think it will be Florida,” guessed Lois’ 
grandfather. 

“Waft and see!” the children replied. 
“We shall leave tomorrow, rain or shine. In 
about four weeks, we shall return. You are 
invited to come to school and see our pictures. 

( 183 ) 


We shall tell some stories about our trip. 
Then you may guess where we have been.” 

All the families looked forward to the 
day when they would hear about the great 
journey. Four weeks seemed a long time. 
Time is always long when one is waiting. 


(184) 



Telling about the Journey 

At last the day came. The boys and girls 
met their friends and parents at the door as 
they came to school. You would have believed 
they really had just returned from a long air- 
flight. 

“How do you do?” they said, as if they 
were all out of breath. “Our ears are still 


roaring from the sound of the motor, but we 
are happy to see you. Oh, yes! It was a pleas¬ 
ant trip, thank you; but we are delighted to 
be home again. No, thank goodness! There 
were no accidents. Come right in and find 
comfortable seats. The first speaker is about 
to begin. One learns not to waste time on 
an airplane. We shall start promptly.” 

When the visitors had all arrived, Leslie 
said, “We are pleased to see so many friends. 
If you will make yourselves comfortable, we 
shall tell you about our trip.” 

George Earl began, “We took our sum¬ 
mer clothes on the journey, because we were 
going to a warm climate.” 

Lois added, “We went across the Atlan¬ 
tic Ocean. We traveled east and south. The 
trip was long. Finally we came to a continent 

on the other side of the Atlantic. It is the 
( 186 ) 


large continent which Mrs. Mary McLeod 
Bethune wanted to visit. She felt that there 
was work for her to do in that country. I, too, 
have often wished I could go there some day. 
Here is a picture of the continent.” 

Lois held up a picture. It was a map of 
the continent. Such a queer, heart-shaped 
country, with one side of the heart much 
larger than the other side! It looked as if 
some one had pushed the upper right-hand 
part downward until the top of the heart ex¬ 
tended far out on the left side. 

Lois continued her story: 

“As we flew over the continent toward 
the south, we crossed the equator. Oh, we did 
not see it! We did not even know when we 
crossed it. We only knew the air was very, 
very hot through that part of the country,, 
and that we must be near the equator be- 

( 187 ) 


cause our maps told us so. 

“We tuned the radio in our plane to one 
of the local stations. Suddenly, over the air¬ 
waves came the deep rich voice of one of our 
own fine singers. We had often heard that 
voice before. This American Negro sings on 
some of the best radio programs in the 
United States. He has had leading parts in 
some fine moving pictures. 

“We recalled having seen him in a pic¬ 
ture ‘Sanders on the River.’ Some of us had 
seen him in ‘Show Boat’ and had heard him 
sing ‘Old Man River.’ 

“This man with the wonderful voice was 
once an all-American football player. He be¬ 
came farnous as an actor when he played the 
role of Othello. Later he played Emperor 
Jones, and we were all proud of him in that 
role, too. 


( 188 ) 



“You can imagine how happy we were 
when this man’s voice came to us as we sailed 
over a strange land. We enjoy hearing Paul 
Robeson sing any time; but his singing 
sounded especially wonderful that day.” 

Opal Bell was next. She told this story: 

“We landed in the southern part of the 
continent. There we found white people and 

( 38 !)) 


black people, as in our own country. 

“But those black people seemed so 
strange to us! We wondered if they could 
really be our cousins. Their clothes, their 
homes, and their way of talking were quite 
different from ours. Many of them could not 
read and write. Many of them took no part 
in the government of their country. 

“We made a special visit to see another 
of our well known Negroes who is working 
with the Young Men’s Christian Association 
over there. This man met us with a friendly 
smile and made us comfortable at once. He 
has always known how to make people feel 
welcome in strange places. Before he left 
America, he was known as a leader of both 
old and young, in Christian work. He is a 
graduate of Shaw University in North Caro¬ 
lina. 


< 190 ) 



Max Yergan, Director, International Committee on African Affairs 






“In that far-away country, he is much 
loved. He goes about organizing Christian 
Associations among the natives. He talks 
with students, both black and white, in the 
colleges and universities. He is helping to 
form a fine friendship between the two races. 

“We were glad to see Mr/ Max Yergan. 
It was easy to understand that he was like 
us, an American. We remembered that he 
had been awarded the Spingarn Medal in 
1933. In choosing him the committee said, 
'Mr. Max Yergan is a missionary of intelli¬ 
gence, tact, and self-sacrifice, representing 
the gift of cooperation and culture which 
American Negroes may send back to their 
Motherland; and he is one who organized an 
unusual local movement for interracial un¬ 
derstanding among black and white stu¬ 
dents.’ 


(192) 


“Mr, Yergan told us of his visits to the 
schools over there. He plays interesting 
games with the children and listens to their 
lovely folk songs and stories. He takes them 
many stories of hope, and teaches them the 
joy of living as Christians, We certainly did 
enjoy our visit with Mr. Yergan.” 

Opal went to her seat. 

Leslie said, “When we left Capetown in 
the very southern part of the continent, we 
flew toward the north. We could see rivers 
shining like paved roads cutting their way 
through the dark forests. Sometimes these 
rivers seemed to widen into huge mirrors; 
but we knew those mirrors were only 
swamps. When we saw what looked like a 
big black rock in one of those shining 
swamps, we flew as low as we dared. Look¬ 
ing through our telescope, we learned that 

( 193 ) 


what had seemed like a rock was a big black 
hippopotamus, trying to keep cool in the 
water. The noise of our motor must have dis¬ 
turbed him, for he lifted his ugly lumpy head 
and spouted water high into the air. Then 
he dived into the swamp and we did not see 
him again. 

“Once, when we landed to visit a little 
village far out in the forest, we saw an army 
of ants marching like soldiers in a long col¬ 
umn a yard wide. Another time, we saw the 
blind hunting ants that leave nothing behind 
their path. It is said that even the elephants 
get out of the way when the blind ants come 
feeling their way along. 

“Near the little village we saw the tailor 
ants. They use their babies as spinning ma¬ 
chines to fasten the leaves together for a 
nest. Just to think of them made us glad we 

( 194 ) 



are human beings in¬ 
stead of tailor ants. 

“Here is a picture 
of an ant’s house. The 
ants that built it are 
not real ants, but ter¬ 
mites. Perhaps they 
are the most unusual of all the ant family. 
They build houses many times taller than our 
one-story homes. 

“See the house near the termites’ home? 
It is not such a tiny house, but it certainly 
looks small beside the termites’ building. 
These white ants do not always build their 
houses where people would like to have them. 
They do not even ask if they may put up 
their homes. How would you enjoy having 
termites build their house in your front yard? 

“As we went deeper into the forest, we 

( 195 ) 


met a great cloud of locusts. They were look¬ 
ing- for the villag-e g-ardens. Sometimes these 
locusts destroy all the gardens in a day. 

“Underfoot were dangerous, crawling 
things. We walked slowly and watched every 
step. Not more than six feet from where I 
passed, there was a huge snake, sleeping 
with his eyes wide open. The knots in his 
body showed that he had found a good din¬ 
ner. 

“Beside a stream we saw a python, at 
least twenty-five feet long. He was all dressed 
up in his beautiful coat of black and brown 
and gold. But that did not keep him from 
lying half in water and half on land, bathing 
in his best suit while he digested the antelope 
he had crushed and swallowed whole only 
yesterday. 

“Mosquitoes swarmed and stung us. We 
(106) 


thought it best to go back to the village. 
Mosquitoes are said to carry malaria. The 
natives do not often have malaria, but we did 
not want to run the risk of getting it into 
our blood. Many people who live in this part 
of the country build their houses high off the 
ground. Their homes look like haystacks 
walking around on stilts. The mosquitoes do 
not fly high. People can sleep in their stilt- 
houses without being bothered by them. 

“Besides the ants, the snakes, and the 


mosquitoes, there were poisonous flies and 
other insects in the forest. The air was thick 
with them. We hurried to get out of the 
woods. 

“Suddenly, right near us, we saw the 
most unusual animals of all. They looked like 
human fly papers. Our friends explained 
that they were really men who had spread a 
kind of glue over their clothes, their hands, 
and their faces. They wanted to work in the 
forest. They knew that there were tsetse flies 
in the air. Tsetse flies bite and kill dogs and 
other animals. These same flies sometimes 
bite people. The bite of the tsetse fly is said 
to cause ‘sleeping sickness.’ The men spread 
the glue on themselves to protect their bodies 
from the tsetse flies. When we saw them and 
learned why they had made themselves into 
walking fly papers, we did not waste any time 

( 198 ) 


in our rush to the clearing and the stilt- 
houses. 

“The next morning we left the swampy 
forest, with its snakes and insects. We flew 
toward the north and east. Before long the 
trees seemed smaller and the rivers were 
narrow silver ribbons. Soon we could see only 
a few trees here and there. We were passing 
over the great grasslands. The black dots in 
the grass were cattle, antelopes, and zebras. 
Occasionally, we saw villages with tiny grass 
huts. Nearby were their gardens and small 
herds of sheep and goats. 

“As we went on and on, the grass 
seemed shorter. There were no trees and no 
streams. Soon, we passed over country where 
there was no grass at all. Everywhere we 
looked there was sand and clay and bare 
rock. We were flying over the Great Desert. 

( 199 ) 



“Late that afternoon we saw a shining 
lake of water in that world of sand and rock. 
Around the lake were green trees, and some¬ 
thing that looked like green grass. It was an 
oasis! Several tents were sitting near as if 
resting in the welcome shade of the palm 
trees. A few goats were eating grass. A num¬ 
ber of camels lay in the sun, their dust- 
colored humps rising like the sails of ships 
in an ocean of sand. 

“When we landed, we found strange 

brown-skinned people. The men wore long 

robes and bright colored hats with long capes 
( 200 ) 



hanging down their backs. The women wore 
robes, but they wore trousers, also. Their 
heads were covered with bright shawls. All 
their clothing was made of heavy wool. 

“These people were Bedouins. They live 
in the desert. They wander from place to 
place to find grass and water for their goats 
and camels. They meet many kinds of peo¬ 
ple. One of them could understand our lan¬ 
guage and could talk to us a little. 

“We spent the night at the oasis. Before 
morning we wished we had some heavy 
clothes like those the Bedouins wore. When 
the sun shines, the desert is burning hot; but 
at night it becomes very cool. 

“The next morning, our Bedouin friend 
who could talk with us called, ‘Come here! I 
want to show you something.’ 

“We followed him a short distance; and 
( 201 ) 


what do you suppose he showed us? It was a 
mother python on her nest. We could not 
guess how long she was, because she lay 
coiled ’round and ’round over her eggs. The 
Bedouin told us that the python usually lays 
a hundred or more eggs before she coils on 
the heap. She stays there about two months 
and then the baby pythons hatch. Imagine 
what it would be like to sleep at that oasis 
some night when those one hundred or more 
baby pythons start crawling around! 

“We wanted to fly across the Great Des¬ 
ert and to see the Nile River; but our time 
was growing short. We had promised to be 
back here today, you know. The continent we 
visited is such a large one that it would take 
many months to see even half of it. 

“So we decided to fly back toward the 

west coast and make one or two stops. Then 

(202) 


it would be time to come home. Not long- after 
we had crossed the g-rasslands and had come 
to another beautiful forest, we saw a villag-e 
in a small space that had been cleared of 
trees and bushes. A beautiful stream dashed 
down the hills and went g-alloping- throug-h 
the trees. 

“We landed our plane and went to the 
village. There we met some very fine people. 
Among them was a little boy whom we 
learned to love dearly. His name was Benoni. 
The Book Friend will tell you about him, and 
will show you the pictures we brought back.” 


(2()B) 


HELPERS FOR YOU 


Fill the blank on each line with the cor¬ 
rect word from the list on the next page. 

1. The children took an imaginary trip 

to .. 

2. The people they met on the desert 

were... 

3. The ___ fly is said to 

give people sleeping sickness. 

4. A . lays a hundred 

or more eggs before she coils herself on her 
nest. 

5. The air is...on the desert 

at night. 

6. -.....received the 

Spingarn Medal in 1933. 

7. Max Yergan is an ... 

Negro. 


(204) 









8. Mosquitoes are said to cause . 

9. A python is a large 

10. Africa is a very large . 

Bedouins malaria Africa 

python tsetse cool 

Mr. Yergan continent American 
snake 


(205) 






Benoni 

Benoni lived in the Land 
of Shadows. He was a very 
small lad who had never seen 
a city with its tall buildings. His home was the 
center of a little village in a forest clearing. 
Benoni’s people called the village a kraal. To 
our ears the name sounds like the word we 
use when we speak of what babies do before 
they are strong enough to walk (crawl). 

The houses in Benoni’s village, or kraal, 
looked like giant beehives. Their walls were 
made of mud and sticks, baked by the sun 
as hard as bricks. 

The pointed roofs reminded us of the tall 
hats we wear on Hallowe’en. These roofs 
were made of the long grass that grew some 

distance away from the kraal. 

( 206 ) 




When the rain comes through one of 
these roofs, Benoni’s people do not sit under 
an umbrella. They do not buy a new roof. 
They just go out and pull more grass with 
which to mend their old roof. 

Little Benoni did not like to stay in the 
kraal during the day. He did not like the hot 
sun. It burned his body, for Benoni wore no 
clothes. 

Benoni’s house was in the center of the 
kraal because his father was chief of the 
tribe. All the other little huts sat in a circle 



around the chief’s 
house. 

Benoni liked the 
dark, restful shadows 
in the forest which 
grew on every side of 
his native village. It 
pleased him to watch 
the gay colored birds 
in the green leaves 
overhead. He liked to hear them chatter 
about their families and their travels. He 
loved their sweet music when they sang of 
their homes and their babies. 

Benoni never tired of running races with 
the beautiful butterflies as they sailed 
through the air on bright, fluttering wings. 

The gentle breeze told Benoni such in¬ 
teresting stories! He often stood still—^very 
( 208 ) 


still—listening, almost without breathing, as 
it sang sweet songs and played lively tunes 
upon the leaves on the trees in his forest. 

The wild things that roamed among the 
bushes learned that Benoni was a friend. 
Many of them lost all fear of the small black 
boy who spent so much time in their shadowy 
land. 

The tall giraffes often stood still and 
gazed at him. When he spoke to them in his 
soft native language, they seemed to under¬ 
stand; but they gave him no answer, for 
giraffes have no voice boxes in their long 
necks. They never talk. Even when they are 
angry, or are hurt by lions or tigers or other 
strong animals, the poor giraffes can not cry 
out. And so, when little Benoni tried to carry 
on a conversation with them, the giraffes 
only held their heads higher in the air and 

( 209 ) 



looked too proud for words. 

And oh, those monkeys! It was such fun 
to hear them jabbering, and to see them 
swinging by their long tails from the high 
forest branches. There were many kinds of 
monkeys. The ones Benoni liked best had 
long silky black and white fur. Their faces 
were black. Around each face was a fringe 
of white beard. 

Perhaps you have 
never seen monkeys 
except in cages or in 
parks. I am sure you 
have not seen the kind 
Benoni liked best. No 
doubt you think mon¬ 
keys are ugly and 
dirty. 

Benoni’s monkeys 



were not dirty. Their fur was soft and clean. 
They always smelled as sweet as if they had 
just come from a warm soapy bath. Their 
breath was as sweet as the breath of a 
healthy human baby. They would not eat 
food that was not strictly fresh. They kept 
themselves healthy with good food, plenty of 
exercise in the open air, regular hours of 
sleep, and clean bodies. 

Benoni’s mother did not need to call him 

to get up in the morning. The monkeys did 

that. They were good alarm clocks. At the 

first peep of dawn they always awoke and 

sent out a call that meant, “Get up, all you 

sleeping people and animals! It’s morning!” 

All the sleeping people and animals knew 

that it was time to wake when they heard 

that call. All the night-prowling animals 

crept swiftly into their hiding places to sleep 
( 211 ) 


and wait for the next darkness. 

When Benoni heard the monkeys call¬ 
ing each morning he wasted no time. He 
wanted to be in the forest to hear the morn-* 
ing concert. Benoni’s monkeys always 
started the day with music. Just as he left 
his hut, he heard the leader give the signal 
for attention. The monkey’s voice sounded 
as if he might have taken cold during the 
night and was clearing his throat. But all the 
monkeys knew he was saying, “Attention! 
Get ready!” 

By the time Benoni arrived, the trees 
were full of monkeys, all sitting up on the 
branches with their lips puckered like those 
of a boy getting ready to whistle a tune. They 
watched their leader. He looked all around 
to see if every one was ready. Then he started 

on a low tone and raised his voice just as a 

( 212 ) 


conductor lifts his baton. Suddenly all the 
monkeys began to sing. 

What a concert it was! The voices 
hummed like bees. Then they rose to high 
“do” and came rumbling down again. Up 
again, and down they came! Over and over, 
they sang the same tune. Some were slower, 
and some were lower, but they all sang. 4 

Just when Benoni was sure they we#e 
going to stop, they raised their voices again 
and began the song once more. Then, when 
he was certain they would sing all day, the 
music suddenly stopped. Each family went to 
its own tree-home. The father barked out his 
orders, and every one began to do the task 
his father had given him for his “home 
work.” 

All day the monkeys worked and played. 
It was easy to see that the father was bbss. 



When he spoke, every 
member of the family 
did what he wanted 
done. But he was not a 
bad father. When the 
work was finished, he 
played hide-and-seek 
with his wife and chil¬ 
dren among- the long- 
fern leaves and the 
lovely wild flowers. He 
took the longest, most breath-taking jumps 
from tree to tree; and it was interesting to 
watch his long bushy tail trailing behind him 
as he flew through the air. 

Benoni liked to stay in the shadows and 
watch the monkeys prepare for bed. The 
mother took every little baby on her lap and 
looked him over carefully. She picked off all 

( 214 ) 


ticks and burrs. Then she cleaned his eyes 
and nose. She even gouged into his ears just 
as some human mothers do. When every baby 
was ready, there was a race for a place next 
to mother in the tree-bed. Sometimes they 
set the whole forest into an uproar with their 
squealing and pushing. At last the father 
would grow weary of the big noise and sud¬ 
denly bark out, “Stop that squealing! Be 
quiet!” 

Not another sound could be heard in all 
the forest except that made by Benoni’s tiny 
feet as he left the shadows and went to find 
rest in his own little hut. 


( 215 ) 


A SUGGESTION 


George Earl said, “If you will come with 
me I will show you our sand table. We have 
made a kraal on it, like the one in which 
Benoni lived. See the chief’s house? 

“You will notice the forest around the 
kraal. The trees are tall and green. 

“And here are the monkeys in the forest. 
Some are in trees. Some are on the ground. 
Some are playing hide-and-seek among the 
ferns and flowers.” 


( 216 ) 


Benoni’s Family 

Because Benoni was a very small lad, 
he did not work. All day, while the sun was 
hot, and while his older brothers herded the 
goats, little Benoni played among the cool 
shadows of the forest. ^' ■ 

He did not go to the hut for lunch. When 
he was beginning to feel hungry, he pulled a 
ripe, yellow banana from one of the banana; 
trees in the forest. If he wanted more to eat, 
he took another banana or found some other 
kind of fruit. The forest was full of good 
things to eat. 

But Benoni was the only member of his- 
family who did not work. Sometimes the 
chief wondered if his small son was not old 
enough to begin making trips with his 
brothers to look after the goats. The mother 

( 217 ) 


always said, “Oh, he is only a baby! Let him 
play a while longer!” 

To be sure, you and I could not have un¬ 
derstood the mother because she spoke a 
language that we do not know. But we can 
be certain that mothers, the world over, 
always want their babies to play and be hap¬ 
py as long as they can. 

And so, while Benoni played, his mother 
went with the other women to carry wood. 

Do you think it strange that Benoni’s 
people needed so much wood? There were 
many night-prowling animals in the forest 
near the kraal. These animals liked to steal 
their food from the kraal. They might have 
harmed the people in the kraal. To keep 
them away, a great Are was kept burning 
every night. Animals that prowl at night 

will not come into a circle lighted by a fire. 

( 218 ) 


But it takes much wood to keep fires burning 
every night. 

Sometimes, when the mothers went 
after wood, the babies that were too small to 
walk or to take care of themselves, went 
along. They rode on their mothers' backs 
as our Indian babies ride. If they grew 
weary, the babies went to sleep in their back¬ 
seat carriages. 

Benoni’s mother knew how to do many 
things. She could skin bark from trees and 
make it into cloth. She soaked the bark a 
long time. Then she laid it on a log and beat 
it with a big mallet until it was soft and as 
thin as she wanted it to be. Benoni liked to 
watch his mother make cloth when the sun 
was not too hot. But he did not like to wear 
the cloth. 

Once she wrapped a piece of the cloth 

( 219 ) 


around him. He twisted and squirmed. It 
was easy to see that Benoni enjoyed other 
things more than fine clothes. 

' ^ Besides hiaking cloth and carrying 
wood, the women who lived in Benoni’s kraal 
took care of the gardens and cooked the 
meals. To be sure, there was fruit in the 
forest. They ate this fruit every day. But 
people who work must have more than fruit 
to eat. 

The women laid great pieces of meat on 
the fire to roast. They brought fresh vege¬ 
tables from the gardens and made soup. 

They cooked the soup in large open pots. 

The women made bowls from which 

Benoni and his brothers sometimes ate their 

breakfasts. Some of the bowls were made of 

mud baked hard in the sun. Others were 

made from the hard shells of nuts or fruits 
( 220 ) 



that grew in the forest. 

But the mothers would have had no meat 
to roast if the fathers had not gone into the 
woods to hunt for wild animals. The men 
often brought back fine fruits and wild 
honey as well as meat. During certain sea¬ 
sons of the year, they caught fish from the 
rivers. 

When the houses needed new roofs, it 

was the fathers who went through the woods 

to the place where the long grass grew. Long 

lines of men often walked for many miles, 

carrying great loads of the long, tough grass 
( 221 ) 



on their shoulders. 


When the roofs were mended, the men 
wove the rest of the grass into mats, or bas¬ 
kets. They made large baskets and small 
baskets. They made baskets of many shapes. 
The mothers and the children carried fruits 
and other food in these baskets. 


( 222 ) 




ARE THESE TRUE OR FALSE? 

1. Benoni was too small to work. 

2 . Benoni liked a hot lunch every day. 

3. Benoni’s father carried the wood. 

4. They needed much wood because 
the climate was so cold. 

5. Night-prowling- animals came to 
warm by the fires in Benoni’s kraal. 

6 . Benoni’s mother made cloth from 
cotton. 

7. The babies rode as babies do in 
Japan. 

8 . The men made baskets from the 
long grass. 

9. The men took care of the gardens. 

10. Food was often cooked in large open 

pots. 




A Joke on Mr. Elephant 

One morning Benoni’s mother came 
from the garden. In her strange language 
that did not sound at all like ours, she cried, 
“Elephants! Elephants! They have been in 
our gardens. They have tramped upon our 
yams and our manioc. They have eaten our 
corn. Nothing is left!” 

Benoni’s mother had no telephone. She 
could not call her neighbors and tell them 
about the elephants. 

But his father, the chief, knew how to 
send the message. He called for his official 
drum-beater and told him to let all the peo¬ 
ple know that the elephants were near. 

The official drum-beater ran to what 
looked to us like a long hollow log with a split 
in the upper side. He took a queer club in 

( 224 ) 


his hands. He began to beat upon the log. 

“Tom, tom, tom, tom! Tom, tom, tom, 
tom!” roared the hollow-log-drum. At least it 
sounded to us as if the drum said, “Tom, tom, 
tom, tom! Tom, tom, tom, tom!” 

But to Benoni and to all those who lived 
in the Land of Shadows, it told another story. 
What it said to them was, “Elephants are 
near! Elephants are near!” 

Soon another drum was heard, far away 
in the distance, telling the same story, “Ele¬ 
phants are near! Elephants are near!” 

The people in Benoni’s kraal gathered 
about their chief’s house. They heard what 
the elephants had done to their gardens. 
They were much excited. They all talked at 
once. 

■ “We will catch the elephants! We will 
pull their long teeth out! We will tear their 

( 22 . 5 ) 



meat from their bones! To the hunt! To the 
hunt!” 

After a time all became quiet in the 
kraal. The men made bows and arrows ready 
for the hunt. Then they went into the dark 
shadows of the forest. Briars scratched their 
faces. Thick branches from the bushes and 
the trees tore their flesh; but they went on 
slowly and carefully. They knew that the 
night-prowling animals were asleep in hid¬ 
den places. It might mean death to disturb 
some restless tiger or leopard or lion who 

(22(!i 


had not been able to catch a full dinner be¬ 
fore going- to bed at dawn. 

As they came near a shady pool, a flock 
of tick birds rose in the air and fluttered 
about. “A rhinoceros is resting by the pool,” 
the men whispered in their strange language. 

“Let us go quickly from here,” said 
Benoni’s father, the chief. “But make no 
noise!” 

And while they crept away, a rhinoceros 
weighing about four thousand pounds, 
opened one of his little eyes. He looked out 
sleepily past the two horns on his broad ugly 
nose. A rhinoceros can not see very well 
when he is wide awake. When he is sleepy 
he sees almost nothing. But this rhinoceros 
smelled the odor of human flesh; and he 
heard the twigs and leaves moving, for his 
nose and ears are keen. However, he did not 


stir from his cool, shady mud-hole. It was 
far past his bedtime and he had dined heart¬ 
ily on many delicious roots and bushes before 
his clumsy three-toed feet had brought him 
to the pool. He only sighed and wallowed 
deeper into his oozy bed. 

But Benoni’s people knew the rhinoceros 
would be a dangerous animal if he were 
awake. 

They went on into the forest. They dug 
deep pits with stones and sticks. They hid 
the pits with light branches and leaves until 
an animal walking in the forest would never 
have seen them. 

The men said, “We will play a joke on 
Mr. Elephant. He will come walking boldly 
through the forest. He will be thinking of 
our yams and our manioc and our corn. He 

will be smiling to himself because of the good 

( 228 ) 


breakfast he has had. He will not be careful 
where he puts his big clumsy foot. 

“Suddenly, as he moves among the 
shadows and enjoys his breakfast, he will 
walk upon one of the pits we have dug and 
covered over so carefully with leaves and 
branches. He is heavy. The leaves and 
branches will not hold him up. How sur¬ 
prised he will be when he begins to go down, 
down, down! 

“We will wait at the edge of the clear¬ 
ing until morning. We will be very quiet. But 
we shall laugh behind our hands because of 
the funny joke we are 
playing upon old Mr. 

Elephant!” 

The next morning 
Benoni was awakened 
by loud talking as the 



people hurried to get ready to go into the 
forest. He jumped up quickly and followed. 

When they came to the first pit, it was 
just as they had left it the day before. They 
found the second pit. It was the same. As 
they came near the third pit, they heard a 
great sound like the blowing of a trumpet. 

“Listen! Listen!” cried the men and 
boys in their strange language. “There is 
the elephant. Look! There he is in the pit.” 

And sure enough, there he was—as big 
a Jumbo as you have ever seen in a circus! 
He had been tricked by the light branches 
and leaves that covered the deep pit. When 
he stepped upon them his big foot went 
through and he fell down, down, down! My! 
He was surprised and angry! What had 
happened? What was this great hole into 
which he had fallen? 

(2S0l 


Perhaps he remembered having heard 
his grandfather tell about the traps men set 
for elephants. “Just wait till I get out of 
here!” he thought. “I’ll make them sorry 
for the way they have treated me!” 

He snorted and blew through his long 
trumpet-like trunk. He pawed the dirt with 
his tusks and struggled to get out. But the 
pit was too deep and its walls were too steep. 
He could not get out. 

The people from the kraal laughed and 
shouted, “Ho, ho! The joke is on you now, 
Mr. Elephant! Eat our corn and manioc will 
you? Trample down our yams, will you? Oh, 
no! Ho, ho!” 

The children and the women ran 
through the forest gathering firewood. Even 
Benoni carried a few sticks in his excitement. 
The men killed the big elephant and pulled 

( 231 ) 


his long white tusks. They cut his meat into 
large pieces. Some of the meat was laid on 
the fire to roast. Other pieces were hung 
over the fire to be smoked and kept to eat 
later. 

Benoni’s people needed the elephant 
meat to eat in place of the vegetables he had 
destroyed. They said, “Everyone must pay 
for all the bad he does in this world. This is 
the way Mr. Elephant will pay for ruining 
our gardens.” 

Two elephants were killed that day. 
Their long white tusks were pulled. Later 
they were sold for 
their ivory to a trader 
who visited the kraal. 
The keys on your 
piano at home may be 
covered with some of 



the pieces of those elephant tusks. Who 
knows? 

When night came, there was a great 
feast. Then men danced around the fire. The 
children danced, too. All the people sang 
and clapped their hands to keep time with the 
beating of the drums. It was a lively tune 
that the drums sent out into the forest. Far, 
far away across the river and into the hill-; 
its echo could be heard all night long: 

“Tom-ta-tom-tom! 

Tom-ta-tom-tom! 

Tom-ta-tom! Tom-ta-tom! 

Tom-tom-tom-tom! ” 


am 



The End of the Journey 

When the Book Friend had finished the 
story of Benoni, the parents and friends who 
had come to school to hear about the imagi- 
nary trip clapped and clapped. 

“We think you had a fine trip,” they 
said. “We are proud of you. This is an in¬ 
teresting way to study geography. We feel 
as if we had gone on a long journey ourselves. 
Thank you for your splendid program.” 




Leslie said, “We have enjoyed telling- 
you about the things we learned on our edu¬ 
cational journey. It has been an interesting 
study for us, also. We have learned that 
geography teaches us many things about the 
world. We appreciate geography most of all 
because it has helped us to see that people, 
the world over, are very much alike. We 
have learned to feel friendly toward the chil¬ 
dren of other countries.” 

“How would you like to go on a real trip 
to Africa?” asked one of the guests. 

“I should like it very much, indeed,” an¬ 
swered Lois. “But I should not want to stay 
too long.” 

“I think Mr. Max Yergan is quite brave 
to leave his own country and to give his serv¬ 
ices to the people of Africa,” said Opal. 

“Would you be willing to go to Africa 

( 235 ) 


to live, as he has?” asked her grandmother. 

“Oh, no!” replied Opal quickly. “I could 
not leave my own people. I should be too 
lonely.” 

“I think America is the best place in the 
world,” declared Talbert. 

“I agree with you,” said George Earl. 
“Sometimes it is hard to find work here. 
Sometimes we think it is not easy to have the 
friends we want. Sometimes our whole race 
is hurt because one of our color does wrong. 
Sometimes we do not get justice in the courts. 
Often we are discouraged and sad. At times 
like that we may not appreciate America as 
much as we should like. But when we study 
about the people of other lands, we find they 
have their troubles, too. 

“Fathers and mothers, you can look 
back farther than we can along the road our 

( 236 ) 



race has traveled. You can recall the time 
when Negroes in America had troubles so 
great that ours seem little today. You can 
see our loyal color bearers along the way. 
You can see them leading our people as we 
have marched forward through all these 
many hard years. Help us to remember! 

“We have made friends among all races 
and colors. We are even beginning to make 
friends among ourselves! We are beginning 

■ ( 237 ) 


to understand and appreciate our own peo¬ 
ple. We are learning that the color of a 
man’s skin does not tell what is in his heart. 

“We know that a Negro can be a fine 
student, a shrewd business man, a loyal citi¬ 
zen, and a Christian. 

“We hear our people sing the lovely 
spirituals of our race, and our hearts fill with 
pride. This is truly one of our great gifts to 
our country. 

“We look at the paintings made by our 
race, and we know in our hearts that they 
are really beautiful. 

“We read the newspapers, the books, 
the stories, the poems, and the plays our peo¬ 
ple have written. Again we are proud. 

“We see our people on the stage and in 
the motion pictures, and we know that we 
see true art. 


(2.'i8) 


“And because we feel pride in ourselves 
and our race—because we know that only a 
strong character can endure a storm—we 
are beginning to work together. At last we 
are moving forward, hand in hand on a 
great American Tour. We see a vision of 
the place we want to go, and the path ahead 
is growing clearer. 

‘Tf we stand together and work for 
what is right, we shall make this American 
Tour more interesting than any imaginary 
trip. Japan, Africa, South America, and all 
other foreign countries are interesting. It 
is right that we should study about them in 
school. People who know each other well, 
do not often fight. We want to be friends 
with all the world. 

“But this is our native country. This is 
the land in which our parents have struggled 

( 239 ) 


and developed. Here are our homes and our 
families. No matter where we may journey, 
we shall always return. We are Americans! ” 




YOUR LITTLE DICTIONARY 



) 

• 






» 







YOUR LITTLE DICTIONARY 

A good reader looks in the dictionary to find the meaning 
ot a word he does not know. He looks in the dictionary to learn 
now to pronounce words, too. 

help you find a word quickly, the words in your little 
dictionary are arranged in alphabetical order. 

Often a word has more than one meaning. Your little dic¬ 
tionary tells you the meaning of the word as it is used in this 
book. 


WORD LIST 

abilities, powers to do, or to accomplish 
absent, away; not there 
academy, a school 

accident, bad luck; an unexpected happening 

accomplish, to do 

accord, agreement 

accustomed, having the habit of 

acquaint, to make known 

acres, plots of land equal to 160 square rods 

activities, plans and programs 

administration, direction; management 

admired, highly respected 

advancement, helping to be better; going forward 
Africa, a large continent 

Alabama, a southern state of the United States 
alarm, something which rings or makes a loud noise to wake 
people at a certain time 

almanacs, books with calendars of days, weeks and months; 

and with facts about the sun and moon 
Alphonso, a boy’s name 
annual, yearly 

antelope, an animal that lives in Africa 
apartments, sets of rooms in which families live 
argument, quarrel 

Armistice, November 11th, the day on which, in 1918, soldiers 
in the World War stopped fighting 
articles, stories, or pieces, in a newspaper, a magazine, or a book 
association, a group of people working together 
Atlanta, a city in Georgia 
attended, was present at; went to 
attractive, pleasing 


(243) 


Augusta, a doctor’s name; a city in Georgia 
aunt, an uncle’s wife; or a sister of one’s father or mother 
average. If we divide the number of people in Oklahoma by the 
number of doctors, the answer is the average number of 
people for each doctor. 

awarded, given as a reward for something done 
awning, a rooflike canvas over the window, used as a shade or 
shelter from sun and rain 

basked, lay quietly and comfortably 

baton, the stick with which the leader of a band beats time 
Bedouins, people, usually Arabs, who move from place to place 
in the desert 

Benoni, a boy’s name ^ ^ . 

British, people of a country called Great Britain. The ruler oi 
this country lives in England, 
bundle, a number of things wrapped together 
burrs, seeds having a rough coat that clings or sticks to things 

Cabinet, a group of persons who help the President make plans 
for our country 

cafe, a public place in which people eat and pay for their meals 
calendar, a paper that shows the days, weeks, and months of a 
year 

camel, a large animal used in the desert; It has one, and some¬ 
times two, humps on its back, 
campus, the land around a college; school grounds 
Canada, the country north of the United States of America 
Carnegie Institute, a school founded by Andrew Carnegie, a 
wealthy man who gave much money to education and art 
Carolina, a southern state in the United States 
carriages, wheeled carts or wagons in which people ride 
celebrate, to observe in some special way 
cellar, a room under the ground 
Chicago, a large city in the United States 

Christian, a person who believes in Jesus Christ and tries to 
follow his teachings 

chrysanthemum, a plant that bears large flowers 
Cincinnati, a large city in the state of Ohio 
cinder, a partly burned piece of coal that has no fire in it 
circus, a show in which people and animals take part 
climate, weather conditions as to heat, cold, rain, or dry 
clinic, a school where medical cases are studied and treated 
coiled, wound in circles 


(244) 


Colorado, a state in the United States 
column, a long straight row 

commencement, the day students receive their degrees from a 
school; the day they graduate 
concert, a musical program, 
conductor, the one in charge; the leader 
considered, thought to be; regarded 

continent, one of the large divisions of land on the earth; Con¬ 
tinents are divided into countries, 
continue, to carry on; to go forward 
courteous, polite 

cousins, sons or daughters of one’s aunt or uncle 
conversation, friendly talk 
cooperation, working well with others 
Crispus Attucks, a man’s name 

culture, good taste; manners; education; refinement 
cymbals, brass plates which are struck together to make a sharp 
ringing sound 

Daytona, a city in the state of Florida 

Declaration of Independence, the act by which the colonies 
made it known that they were free from Great Britain 
degree, a rank to which students are admitted when they have 
done certain work in college 
delicious, pleasing to the taste 
dentist, one who cleans and repairs teeth 

desert, waste land where plants do not grow because there is 
not enough rain 
destroyed, ruined; tore up 

determination, a strong will to do; firmness of purpose 
devoted, set apart for a special purpose 
dials, clock faces 

dignity, nobility; honor; greatness 
disappear, to pass from sight 

Disciples, the twelve selected companions of Jesus 
discouraged, disheartened; unhappy 
distinguished, set apart from others by great honor 
divine, belonging to God 

Durham, a city in the state of North Carolina 
duty, the way in which a person should act 

earthquake, a shaking of the earth 

echo, a sound heard again- 

edit, to prepare material to be printed 

(245) 


education, training for better living 

Egypt, a country in Africa 

Emancipation, freedom 

Emmaus, a village in Palestine 

Emperor Jones, a character in a well-known play 

endure, bear with patience 

equator, an imaginary circle around the earth, everywhere the 
same distance from the North Pole and the South Pole 
especially, in a particular way 
Europe, a continent east of the Atlantic Ocean 
examined, looked at closely and carefully 
excitement, anything that excites or stirs up 
exclaimed, cried; called out 
exercise, use; train the body 
exhibit, a collection of pictures; a show 
expenses, the money one spends 
extended, stretched out; made longer 

famous, much talked of 

feast, holiday with much food to eat 

finally, after a time; at last 

Florida, a southern state in the United States 

foreign, outside of one’s own country 

France, a country in Europe 

fringe, a border trimming with loose thread ends 

galloping, running with repeated springs or leaps 

gazed, looked at a long time 

geography, a study of the earth and its people 

Georgia, a state in the southern part of the United States 

ghost, the soul or spirit of a person who has died 

giraffe, a tall African animal with a very long neck 

Gomorrah, an old city of Palestine 

Gordon, a man’s name 

government, the power that controls a nation 
graduate, to complete a course of study and be admitted to 
higher standing in college 
guests, visitors 

harmony, tones that make a pleasing sound when sung or played 
together 

Hawthorne, a well-known American writer 
Hiawatha, an Indian character in one of Mr. Longfellow’s 
poems 


(246) 


hippopotamus, a large hog-like animal that lives in the swamps 
of Africa 

history, a true story of what has happened 
honop, marks of respect 

hospitals, places in which the sick or injured are cared for 
hotel, a house where strangers or travelers can sleep 
human, a man, woman, or child 

idea, a plan; a belief; a notion 
Illinois, a state in the United States 
impression, influence on the mind or habits 
increased, grew; became more 
information, news; facts; knowledge 
insects, very small animals, as flies, bees, etc. 
inscribed, written 

instructions, teachings; orders; directions 
intelligence, ability to learn or understand 
interracial, among different races of people 
introduced, brought in; made known 
Isabella, a woman’s name 

jabbering, talking in a way that cannot be understood 
janitor, a person who cleans and takes care of the building 
Japan, a small country far from the United States 
Judas, a disciple of Jesus 

keys, the parts struck in playing a piano 

kimonos, loose robes worn by both men and women in Japan 

knots, lumps 

kraal, a native village in Africa 
labeled, marked with a name 

labor unions, organizations among people who do certain kinds 
of work 

Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, whose story is told 
in the Bible; the man whom Jesus raised from death and 
the grave 

Lima, a city in South America 

Lindbergh, a well-known American, the first to fly alone over 
the Atlantic Ocean 

local, having to do with a certain place; nearby 
Louvre, a group of buildings in Paris containing the largest 
and most famous collection of paintings in the world 
Luxembourg, a city in Europe, famous for its art 

( 247 ) 


magazine, a paper containing pictures and stories printed 
weekly, monthly, etc. 

mail, letters, papers, and packages sent from one Post Office to- 
another 

malaria, a sickness that causes chills and fever 
mallet, a wooden hammer with a short handle 
managed, handled, or took care of, the business 
manioc, a plant whose roots are used for food 
manly, as a man should be; brave and noble 
maple, a kind of tree whose leaves show many colors in autumn 
mathematics, the study of number, measurement, and space 
mechanic, one skilled in the use of tools; one who makes re¬ 
pairs, and uses machines 

medal, a piece of metal like a coin, given as an honor to a per¬ 
son who has done something great 
medical, having to do with healing or medicine 
medicine, the study of facts about how to prevent or cure dis¬ 
ease; anything used in treating disease 
Meharry, a medical school in Tennessee 
member, one who belongs to a certain group 
merchants, storekeepers 

message, words or ideas sent from one person to another 
Metropolitan Museum, the largest and most important art col¬ 
lection in the United States 
minister, the pastor of a church; one who preaches 
missionaries, persons who go out to train others to be Christians 
model, something to be used as a pattern 
modern, of the present; up-to-date 
mosquitoes, small two-winged insects 
motor, the machine that makes a thing move 
Mutual Life Insurance, the name of a business 

Nashville, a city in Tennessee 

native, belonging to one because of his birth in a certain place 

oasis, a small part of a desert, in which plants grow 

occasionally, happening only now and then 

operation, something done to the body, usually with instruments 

opinion, what one thinks or believes 

opportunity, a good chance 

organizing, putting together in working order 

Othello, a character in a famous play 

Pacific, the ocean west of the United States 
Palestine, the country in which Jesus was born 

( 248 ) 


palette, a board on which a painter mixes his colors 
Paris, a city in France 

Pennsylvania, a Middle Atlantic State in the United States 
Philadelphia, a large city in the state of Pennsylvania 
piano, a large musical instrument 

picnic, an outdoor party with food eaten in the open air 

pit, a deep hole in the ground 

Pittsburgh, a large city in southern Pennsylvania 

poisonous, very harmful to life and health 

postpone, to put off till later 

predicted, told of something before it happened 

prepare, to make ready 

present, to bring a gift to 

present, at a certain place 

pretend, to make believe something that is not true 

prevent, to keep from happening 

prisoners, people held in a place against their wills 

problem, something that needs to be worked out; a difficulty 

program, a plan of what is to be done 

prompt, quick, and ready to act 

propeller, blades that move fast and push the airplane forward 
Provident, the name of a hospital in Chicago 
prowling, moving about slowly and secretly, hunting for some¬ 
thing to eat or to steal 
puckered, drawn into wrinkles 
puzzle, a hard thing to do; a difficult problem 
python, a very large snake 

Quaker, member of a certain religious group 

recognized, knew 

reduce, to make less 

restore, to put back in good condition 

Revolutionary War, the war between the American colonies and 
Great Britain 

Rhode Island, the smallest state in United States 
ridicule, remarks intended to make people laugh at a person 
Roosevelt, the name of a man who was president of the United 
•States 

route, a way; a road; a path 

scholarship, money given a student to help continue his school 
work 

Scotia Seminary, a school 


(249) 


secretary, one who writes letters and keeps records for a per¬ 
son or an organization 
select, choose 

self-sacrifice, giving up one’s own pleasure for the good of 
others 

service, being helpful to others 
shrewd, sharp; keen; cunning 
signal, a sign giving notice of something 
similar, alike 

slack, small pieces of coal; waste parts 
slit, a long narrow cut 
Sodom, an old city in Palestine 
soothing, comforting; peaceful 
spears, long sharp-pointed weapons 
special, unusual; uncommon 

Spingarn, the name of a man who gives a medal each year to 
the Negro who has done the most for his race 
Spirituals, religious songs 

St. Louis, a large city on the Mississippi River 

stabbed, wounded by a knife or other pointed weapon 

stilts, tall poles with high steps or loops for the feet 

success, time well spent; the desired result 

suit, fit; seem to be just right 

surgeon, a doctor who performs operations 

surgery, the work done by a surgeon to heal injuries by opera¬ 
tion 

surveying, measuring, examining, and making a record of any 
part of the earth’s surface 
swamp, low, wet ground usually covered with water 
swords, long sharp-pointed blades with cutting edges 

tact, a fine understanding of how to get along with others 
Talbert, a boy’s name; also the name of a Negro woman who 
did much for her people 

telescope, an instrument that helps a person to see things at a 
distance 

Tennessee, a state in the United States 

termite, a pale-colored insect, often called an ant 

threatening, promising to harm or injure 

tomb, a grave 

tour, a journey; a long trip 

treasurer, one who has charge of money taken in and paid out 
trumpet, a musical instrument which gives a loud ringing sound 
tsetse, an African fly that carries a poison 

( 250 ) 


tusks, long, greatly enlarged teeth 

Tuskegee, a school in the state of Alabama, founded by Booker 
T. Washington 

Uncle Sam, a name sometimes used in speaking of the United 
States government 

uniforms, a special kind of clothing worn by soldiers 
unruffled, smooth; quiet 
unusual, not common; rare 

velvet, a kind of cloth 

venture, an undertaking in which there is risk of losing 
violin, a musical instrument with four strings, played with a 
bow 

Virginia, a state in the eastern part of the United States 

wanderer, one who moves about from place to place 
Worchester, a city in Massachusetts 

yams, root vegetables, like sweet potatoes 

zebra, a horse-like animal, marked with stripes over its whole 
body 


(251) 












« n 




4 
























